Holy Land: Israeli report shows growing settler violence has state approval

Nov 30th, 2021 (Updated Dec 2nd, 2021)

Israeli solder interrogates small boy while settlers take Palestinian land unhindered

Source: B'Tselem

A new report from Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, states that increasing settler violence against Palestinians is being carried out with the approval of the government.

Eyal Hareuveni from B'Tselem writes: "The assaults happen all year round, throughout the West Bank: in established settlements, in isolated outposts, and in the dozens of 'farms' that have sprung up in recent years. Some areas suffer more, but none are exempt. Every few years, the violence reaches a new level of sophistication. Twenty years ago, settlers from outposts were violently expropriating private Palestinian land. Then came 'price tag' incidents, in which settlers vandalized Palestinian homes and burned fields, groves, and mosques in the name of vengeance. Now, we are in the throes of a violent takeover of tens of thousands of dunams by settlers from outposts called 'agricultural farms.'

"The result: tens of thousands of dunams of land misappropriated from Palestinians. Take, for example, 'Uri's farm' : The outpost, established in late 2016 on the land of Khirbet al-Mazuqa (a Palestinian village in the northern Jordan Valley destroyed in 1967), has violently taken over almost 15,000 dunams that local Palestinians used to graze flocks. That is roughly the size of the Israeli city of Holon. And it is one of about 50 such 'farms'.

"All these years, the state has protected and supported settlers. The military safeguards them while they assault Palestinians and take over their land; branches of government subsidize outposts (which are settlements established without permits); and the State's Attorney Office and other authorities protect them from eviction. In the few cases the state has been forced to remove settlers who took over Palestinian land - from Migron, Amona and Derech Ha'avot - it has compensated them generously.

"The assailants, and those who send and finance them, enjoy near complete immunity from the resulting harm to Palestinians. They are very rarely arrested, investigated or prosecuted. Sometimes, soldiers stand by while settlers go on a rampage; occasionally, they assist them. Last May, an armed settler wearing military pants was filmed shooting at Palestinians in the village of 'Urif, near Nablus, while standing next to a soldier. See: www.youtube.com/watch?v=15rmtgoKY9A&t=3s

"Somehow, there are never enough soldiers or police to stop violent settlers - but there are always enough to demolish a water cistern in an isolated Palestinian community (which Israel refuses to hook up to the water grid), or to stop activists from paying a solidarity visit.

"None of this is random. The intimidation of Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers is another tool employed by the occupation regime. The regime, too, expropriates land, water, and natural resources, and is the first to block sustainable Palestinian development. Officially, the state abides by the law, aided by a slew of military orders, civil and military court rulings, and detailed Civil Administration procedures. Unofficially, but under the auspices of the state, violent settlers employ other means of oppression - assaulting Palestinians with clubs, pepper spray, stones, live fire, and dogs, raiding homes, driving shepherds out of pastureland, stealing crops, cutting down trees, starting fires, and more. Both forms of violence serve the same purpose: to quickly and brutally drive Palestinians out of their homes and land.

"It is convenient for us, Israelis, to pretend that settler violence has nothing to do with us - that it is the work of hooligans who are not related to the state. In fact, it is yet another form of the violence perpetrated against Palestinians through other channels. Violence that is considered legitimate, and is permitted and backed for so many years, is not the work of a handful of settlers - it is state violence."

LINKS

Read the full report here: www.btselem.org/publications/202111_state_business

Btselem: www.btselem.org/