Israeli President Isaac Herzog and army chief Eyal Zamir have condemned burgeoning Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in a rare public rebuke of what has become a daily cycle of violence often backed by the Israeli military.
Herzog on Wednesday described the attacks as “shocking and serious,” adding a rare and powerful voice to what has been heavily muted criticism by top Israeli officials of the settler violence, which involves killings and beatings of civilians and destruction of their property.
On Thursday, a group of Israeli settlers vandalised a mosque near the town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
Quoting a local activist, the agency reported that Israeli settlers poured flammable material at the entrance of the mosque and wrote racial slurs on its walls. The report said residents helped put the fire out before it spread through the mosque.
Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank on Tuesday, setting fire to vehicles and other property before fighting with Israeli soldiers.
Herzog said the violence, committed by a “handful” of perpetrators, “crosses a red line”, adding in a social media post that “all state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon.”
Zamir also strongly condemned the recent sharp increase in attacks.
“We are aware of the recent violent incidents in which Israeli civilians attacked Palestinians and Israelis,” Zamir was quoted on Wednesday by the Israeli army as saying.
“I strongly condemn them,” he said, adding that the Israeli military “will not tolerate criminal behaviour by a small minority that tarnishes the law-abiding public”.
US expresses concern
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was worried recent violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank could spill over and undermine US-backed peace efforts in Gaza.
“I hope not,” Rubio told reporters after a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Canada when asked whether the events could endanger the Gaza ceasefire.
“We don’t expect it to. We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
In Tuesday’s incidents, settlers attacked the villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, setting fire to four dairy trucks, farmland, tin shacks and tents belonging to a Bedouin community.
Palestinian official Muayyad Shaaban said the attacks were part of a campaign to drive Palestinians from their land and accused Israel of giving the settlers protection and immunity.
Israeli police said four Israelis were arrested in what they described as “extremist violence”.
A video verified by Al Jazeera shows several vehicles on fire as Palestinians try to extinguish the flames.
Israeli soldiers were also attacked by a group of settlers, and a military vehicle was damaged. That is a rare occurrence as settlers have rampaged with impunity, often with the military’s backing.
‘Ongoing cycle of terror’
Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,350 attacks across the West Bank last month in an “ongoing cycle of terror”, the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC) reported last week.
CRRC head Mu’ayyad Sha’ban said Israeli forces carried out 1,584 attacks – including direct physical attacks, the demolition of homes and the uprooting of olive trees – with most of the violence focused on the governorates of Ramallah (542), Nablus (412) and Hebron (401).
Settler attacks often escalate during the olive harvest from September to November, a vital time of year that provides a key source of income for many Palestinian families.
On Monday, B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said settlers were attacking Palestinians “daily”, including “shooting, beating and threatening residents, throwing stones, torching fields, destroying trees and crops, stealing produce, blocking roads, invading homes, and burning cars”.
Israeli settlements are Jewish-only communities built on Palestinian land that Israel occupied in 1967. They are illegal under international law.
Today, 600,000 to 750,000 settlers live in more than 250 settlements and outposts across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Many of these are near Palestinian towns and villages, often leading to tensions and severe movement restrictions for Palestinians.
Settlers are often armed and frequently accompanied or protected by Israeli soldiers. In addition to destroying Palestinian property, they have carried out arson attacks and killed Palestinian residents.
