{"id":260532,"date":"2024-04-29T12:01:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T11:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=260532"},"modified":"2024-04-23T11:53:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T10:53:05","slug":"the-soldiers-opened-the-way-for-the-settlers-pogroms-surge-across-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/the-soldiers-opened-the-way-for-the-settlers-pogroms-surge-across-west-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Soldiers Opened the Way for the Settlers\u2019: Pogroms Surge Across West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Hussein Dawabsheh, head of the Duma town council, inside a burned house in the town, occupied West Bank, 14 Apr 2024.
(Oren Ziv)<\/p><\/div>\n

Armed Israeli settlers raided more than a dozen Palestinian communities under the army\u2019s guard, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

18 Apr 2024 <\/em>– Israeli settlers embarked on a murderous rampage across the occupied West Bank over the weekend, killing at least three Palestinians and destroying property in more than a dozen<\/a> villages and towns. The immediate trigger for the attacks was the disappearance on Friday, April 12 of Binyamin Ahimeir, a 14-year-old Israeli who went out shepherding that morning from the recently \u201clegalized<\/a>\u201d Malachei HaShalom (\u201cAngels of Peace\u201d) outpost. By the time Israeli authorities found Ahimeir\u2019s body the following day and declared<\/a> him a terror victim, the settlers\u2019 rampage through the surrounding Palestinian communities was already in full swing.<\/p>\n

According to the human rights group Yesh Din<\/a>, Israeli settlers attacked 11 Palestinian villages and towns on Saturday alone. They threw stones, set fire<\/a> to more than 100 vehicles, damaged scores of homes and businesses, and slaughtered hundreds of livestock. In the village of Beitin, near Ramallah, settlers shot dead<\/a> 17-year-old Omar Hamed. In Al-Mughayyir, slightly further north, 25-year-old Jihad Abu Aliya was killed in circumstances that are still somewhat unclear: settlers were attacking the village<\/a> at the time, but the Israeli army stated<\/a> that Abu Aliya was killed by their fire. Another incident captured on a security camera<\/a> shows Israeli soldiers standing guard while settlers set fire to a car in the town of Deir Dibwan, also near Ramallah.<\/p>\n

The pogroms continued into Monday, when Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinian shepherds \u2014 Abdelrahman Bani Fadel, 30, and Mohammed Ashraf Bani Jama, 21 \u2014 on land belonging to the community of Khirbet al-Tawil, east of the town of Aqraba near Nablus. According to testimonies from villagers, a large group of settlers, some of them armed, entered privately-owned Palestinian land near the residents\u2019 homes at around 4 p.m. with a herd of cows (settlers are increasingly choosing to herd cows over sheep and goats because they eat more and are harder to frighten). Later, more settlers arrived, some of them armed and masked. Soldiers also arrived on the scene.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, according to eyewitnesses, in broad daylight, settlers opened fire on the Palestinians, killing the two men. The IDF Spokesperson subsequently announced that the shooting had not been carried out by soldiers. The event was live streamed<\/a> on the Facebook page of the adjacent Palestinian town; in the video, dozens of shots can be heard ringing out in several clusters for more than a minute.<\/p>\n

Nidal, whose cousin, Abdelrahman, was killed yesterday and who was present at the scene, told +972: \u201cI told the soldiers to push the settlers out and we\u2019ll leave. Some had weapons and clubs, some were masked.\u201d According to Nidal, one of the settlers then pepper sprayed one of the Palestinians, and a brawl ensued. \u201cThe soldiers fired in the air, and seconds later the settlers fired M16s from up close,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve lived here for 35 years \u2014 there\u2019s no law here. The settlers are above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a><\/p>\n
Police investigate the scene of a settler attack in Khirbet al-Tawil, east of the town of Aqraba near Nablus, occupied West Bank, April 16, 2024. (Oren Ziv)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For now, it appears that the Israeli authorities are taking the incident seriously: the military did not allow the bodies to be evacuated, transferring them instead to the National Center of Forensic Medicine for autopsy, which theoretically could enable the police to identify the shooters. On Tuesday morning, officers from the police\u2019s Forensic Science Unit were seen at the scene of the shooting, collecting evidence and photographing the area.<\/p>\n

The chances of a violent settler being brought to justice under Israeli law, however, are extremely low: since 2005, only 3 percent<\/a> of Israeli police files opened regarding settler violence ended in conviction. In response to our request for comment, police told +972 that no arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

\u2018The soldiers stood by and didn\u2019t intervene\u2019<\/h3>\n

In the mourning tent in the center of Aqraba on Tuesday, Maher Bani Fadel, father of Abdelrahman, recounted the incident to +972. \u201cAt first, they came \u2014 four settlers with their cattle \u2014 and went into the olive grove near the houses,\u201d he said. \u201cThey called for more settlers: a few dozen came, and they threw stones at us. There were about 20 of us, and four or five soldiers were present. The settlers fired live ammunition at us, maybe 30-40 bullets, from a few meters away. A lot of them had weapons; I don\u2019t know which ones fired. It\u2019s a new weapon they received<\/a> from [Israeli National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the army saw the two dead bodies, they started separating [the settlers and the Palestinians],\u201d Maher continued, adding that he was hit with a club and a stone during the incident. Before the shooting, \u201cwe told [the settlers] they weren\u2019t allowed to be here. They said the government gave them permission, but it\u2019s land belonging to our parents and grandparents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor of Aqraba, Saleh Jaber, who arrived at the scene before the shooting, told +972: \u201cResidents called me, saying there was a [settler\u2019s] herd of cattle near the houses. We contacted the Civil Administration [the bureaucratic arm of the Israeli occupation] but the police came only after the killing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Maher<\/a><\/p>\n
Maher Bani Fadel (right), whose son, Abdelrahman, was killed by settlers during a pogrom near the town of Aqraba, occupied West Bank, April 16, 2024. (Oren Ziv)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The IDF Spokesperson announced after the incident that soldiers had arrived in the area after reports of an attack by Palestinians on a Jewish shepherd. Jaber rejects this characterization of events, clarifying that it was settlers who initiated the attack. \u201cIt\u2019s not true that the shepherds attacked,\u201d he said. \u201cI was there and there was no attack by the shepherds. The settlers who fired were dressed in civilian clothes and armed with M16s. The soldiers first fired in the air and then settlers fired [at the Palestinians]. The soldiers stood by and didn\u2019t intervene.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a month ago, Israeli soldiers shot dead the Palestinian shepherd Fakher Jaber, 43, in the same area. According to a testimony<\/a> published by Haaretz, Jaber was sitting under a tree when he was shot. Then, too, the IDF Spokesperson claimed that the army arrived at the scene following a report of an attack on a settler.<\/p>\n

Dror Etkes, a researcher with the organization Kerem Navot which closely monitors Israel\u2019s takeover of Palestinian land in the West Bank, confirmed<\/a> that the attack took place on private Palestinian land. In recent years, two settler outposts have been encroaching on Palestinian land in the area: \u201cJackson\u2019s Farm,\u201d near the settlement of Gitit, and \u201cItamar Cohen\u2019s Farm,\u201d to the north. \u201cThe settlements, outposts, firing zones, and declarations<\/a> of state land are closing in on Aqraba and the communities in the area from three directions,\u201d Etkes told +972. \u201cThey have a lot of fertile land, so they have become a target for plunder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, the state declared 8,160 dunams (around 2,000 acres) of land in Aqraba as \u201cstate land,\u201d not including the land where the two shepherds were shot on Monday. According to Jaber, the takeover of Palestinian land in the area has accelerated under Israel\u2019s far-right government. \u201cTheir goal is to take over all the land in the Jordan Valley,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happened [on Monday] is the direct result of settler harassment and land expropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The settlers came back five times\u2019<\/h3>\n

Another Palestinian town hit badly by settler attacks on Saturday was Duma. According to residents who spoke to +972, around 200 settlers \u2014 many of them masked, and some of them armed \u2014 raided the town shortly after the body of the teenager Ahimeir was found. They set fire to homes, cars, and farm equipment, and attacked residents. Soldiers were also present, as seen in videos<\/a> from the incident, and even fired tear gas at Palestinians who tried to repel the settlers.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house that was burned by settlers during a pogrom in Duma, occupied West Bank, April 14, 2024. (Oren Ziv)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf they weren\u2019t masked, I might have recognized them,\u201d Murad Dawabsheh, a 52-year-old father of five, said of the settlers who attacked<\/a> his home on Saturday; before October 7, he worked as a construction worker in one of the nearby settlements. Speaking to +972 on Sunday, he sat in front of his burned garden offering visiting well-wishers some of the ful that he managed to salvage from the blackened plants.<\/p>\n

In addition to the garden, settlers burned to the ground a small building next to his house which served as an office and storage room, as well as a warehouse containing wooden construction planks worth thousands of shekels. The attackers also tried to set fire to the front door of the house using clothes and shoes that they\u2019d found nearby. \u201cThere were soldiers with them,\u201d Murad recounted. \u201cWhen I saw them coming, I went into the house. Later, I opened the door for a moment, poured water and pushed the burning clothes away with my foot. The settlers came back five times.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his former office, settlers set alight many books, including religious books and poetry. \u201cThis is my archive,\u201d he lamented. \u201cWho burns books? I understand Hebrew, I heard them telling each other to burn down the gray house [the main building where Dawabsheh\u2019s family was hiding]. I didn\u2019t have time to be afraid for myself, I was afraid for my wife and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head of the town council, Hussein Dawabsheh, told +972 that according to initial information, three agricultural buildings and seven houses were partially burned during the attack, and five houses were burned completely. Fifteen vehicles, an excavator and three tractors, farmland, and olive trees were also set ablaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all in danger when the army enters with the settlers,\u201d he said. \u201cThe settlers walked in a large group. The older ones gave instructions to the younger ones \u2014 where to go and what to burn.\u201d According to Hussein, the military prevented fire trucks and ambulances from entering the village during the attack.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n
The remains of a car that was burned by settlers during a pogrom in Duma, occupied West Bank, April 14, 2024. (Oren Ziv)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018If residents hadn\u2019t fled, entire families would have burned\u2019<\/h3>\n

Most of the damage in the attack on Duma was in the Khalat al-Dara neighborhood, located parallel to the Alon Road which connects the Ramallah area to the Jordan Valley. On Sunday, Mohammed Salawdeh stood in his workshop and appraised the extensive damage. Here, as in other houses, piles of straw and twigs could be seen in different corners of the house \u2014 evidence of the settlers\u2019 attempts to set fire to the building.<\/p>\n

When the attack began, Salawdeh fled to another house in a safer, more central part of the village. \u201cOn the way, we saw armed people \u2014 some with bottles of gasoline and Molotov cocktails, some in military uniforms \u2014 guarded by the army. If someone tried to defend [the village], they shot him.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few meters away from Mohammed\u2019s house stands the charred remains of the home of his relative, Anwar Salawdeh. The elegant house, which 27-year-old Anwar had only recently finished building and furnishing, was set on fire by settlers on Saturday, causing severe damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left school to work at the age of 13, and saved up since then until I could build a house,\u201d Anwar told +972, his voice muted. \u201cAt the time of the attack, I was working in Anata [a Palestinian town near Jerusalem]; I only came back today.\u201d The cost of building the house, he said, was about NIS 150,000 (around $40,000). \u201cI have another NIS 100,000 in loans. I started building the house in 2020 and finished this year with the intention of getting married and living here,\u201d Anwar continued, showing me photos of the house before it was destroyed.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Mohammed Rashid Dawabsheh stayed to protect his home during the attack after his wife Abir fled in a car with their four children and another relative toward the town center when the settlers arrived. \u201cWhen I was in the car, I saw a settler dressed in black opening fire,\u201d Abir told +972. The lower apartment in the building, which was recently renovated, sustained extensive damage: windows were shattered, and the stones that the settlers threw and the wooden beams they shoved into the broken windows to push burning straw inside were still visible.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n
Palestinians inspect the damage to a house that was burned by settlers during a pogrom in Duma, occupied West Bank, April 14, 2024. (Oren Ziv)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

During the attack, Mohammed hid in the building\u2019s stairwell and, with a wooden beam, blocked the door. \u201cI heard them say, \u2018Open up you son of a bitch.\u2019 I hid there, then went up to the roof and hid behind a closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mohammed, four Israeli military jeeps were positioned outside the house, from where they fired teargas at the residents who tried to protect themselves and their property. On Sunday, many tear gas canisters could be seen scattered around the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree minutes after my family fled, [the soldiers] came here. After many minutes, the settlers continued on and some of the army stayed here. The soldiers opened the way for the settlers and let them attack.\u201d On the road near his home, there was still a stone barrier set up by settlers \u201cso that ambulances and assistance couldn\u2019t arrive,\u201d Mohammed added.<\/p>\n

The village of Duma made headlines in Israel and around the world in 2015 after an Israeli settler, Amiram Ben Uliel, set fire to the home of Sa\u2019ad and Riham Dawabsheh, killing them together with their 18-month-old son, Ali. Ahmad, Sa\u2019ad\u2019s brother, suffered severe burns in the attack. Since then, there haven\u2019t been attacks of this magnitude in the village, and Saturday pogrom evoked traumatic memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it reminds us of what happened to the Dawabsheh family,\u201d Mohammed Dawabshe said. His house, like many others in the village, has a thick mesh covering the windows to make it impossible to insert burning objects \u2014 a lesson learned from 2015. \u201cThere is no security, neither on the roads nor at home,\u201d the council leader added. \u201cIf the residents hadn\u2019t fled, entire families would have been burned in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to +972, an Israeli army spokesperson said of the soldiers\u2019 presence in the village: \u201cOn Saturday, IDF forces operated throughout Judea and Samaria in order to disperse the friction that developed in the area, and to protect property and the lives of all civilians. Any complaint received about inappropriate conduct by IDF soldiers will be examined as is customary and dealt with accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

+972 contacted the police for comment on whether any suspects in the attacks on Duma and other villages over the weekend have been arrested; their response will be added as and when it is received.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

Oren Ziv is a photojournalist, reporter for <\/em>Local Call, and a founding member of the Activestills photography collective.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – 972mag.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18 Apr 2024 – Armed Israeli settlers raided more than a dozen Palestinian communities under the army\u2019s guard, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":260534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[532,1854,2898,1199,2242,87,865,1643,1029,1966,1644,88,2416,715,427,124,70,965,1025],"class_list":["post-260532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-colonialism","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-ecocide","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-genocide-convention","tag-hamas","tag-hunger","tag-international-court-of-justice-icj","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-massacre","tag-palestine","tag-united-nations","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260535,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260532\/revisions\/260535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}