Settlers carried out arson attacks on Palestinian villages on Thursday and Friday [Getty]
Israeli settlers continued attacks on Palestinian villages on Friday, carrying out arson attacks and acts of vandalism in villages and towns across the occupied West Bank.
On Friday morning, settlers set fire to an agricultural building in the village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah. The attackers also left racist graffiti at the site.
In Jericho, settlers protected by Israeli forces stormed two archaeological sites, two sources told The New Arab’s Arabic edition.
Local sources said settlers also attacked a nursery in the village of Deir Sharaf, and on Thursday evening set fire to a vehicle repair shop in the town of Huwara. In the village of Rammun, east of Ramallah, settlers set fire to a bulldozer and agricultural equipment, also on Thursday evening.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with top security officials on Friday to discuss the rising tide of Israeli settler violence, amid growing international anger at Tel Aviv’s inaction on the matter.
Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlers to expand the de facto borders of Israel through intimidation and violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Commission Against the Wall and Settlements, settlers have carried out at least 7,154 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023. These attacks have killed 33 Palestinians and displaced 33 communities.
Violence by both Israeli forces and settlers has killed at least 1,076 Palestinians in the same period, and injured more than 10,000.
Land grabs
The latest attacks come amid moves by Israel to seize large areas of Tubas governorate and establish a military road stretching more than 40 kilometres between Ein Shibli and the village of Tayasir. The land seizure order by the military is pushing Palestinian farmers off their land and blocking their access.
On Thursday, the Israeli occupation’s Civil Administration announced the seizure of 1,800 dunams (445 acres) of land near Nablus for the “preservation and development” of an archaeological site.
Rights group Peace Now slammed the move as yet another attempt to
“The Israeli government’s lust for dispossession and annexation is insatiable, and it is willing to blatantly violate international law to that end,” the group said in a statement.
“This is part of a complete process of takeover and settlement in areas northwest of Nablus that Israel evacuated as part of the Disengagement,” it added, referring to Israel’s withdrawal of settlers from Gaza and the parts of the northern West Bank in 2005.