Dear friend,
Israel enlists countless lies and excuses to deflect criticism regarding settler violence against Palestinians: The attacks only happen “seasonally,” during the olive harvest; the assailants are “bad apples” – a few disaffected fundamentalist teens; the acts occur out of sight, in remote illegal outposts; law enforcement agencies are on it, the police are investigating, the military is refining protocol yet again.
Yet a new B’Tselem report shows that settler violence against Palestinians is organic to Israel’s occupation regime. 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.
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.
Sincerely,
Eyal Hareuveni
B’Tselem
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More about our recent work:
Even when Israelis experience quiet periods, this is far from the reality of Palestinians who live in the West Bank, under military occupation and the apartheid regime. In recent weeks, we published our findings in several incidents in which soldiers fatally shot Palestinians over the last summer. Muhammad Tamimi (17) was shot in the back in the village of a-Nabi Saleh; Muhammad Hassan (21) was shot in the village of Qusrah while trying to defend himself and his brother’s home from an incursion by settlers and soldiers; ‘Omar Abu a-Nil (13) was shot while standing a few dozen meters from the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip, during a demonstration; Raed Jadallah (39) was shot by soldiers lying in ambush on his way home from work; and ‘Imad al-Hashash (15) was shot on his roof while filming soldiers entering the refugee camp he lives in.
Our website showcases many other recent incidents that demonstrate the inherence of violence to life under the occupation. One example is the prolonged abuse of two minors, Mustafa (13) and Muhammad (15) ‘Amirah, which lasted over 24 hours, during which soldiers beat them, starved them and deprived them of sleep. Another is footage of the violent police arrest of Marwan a-Zir (al-Husseini), 38, and of his mother Ra’eesah (65), in which Marwan was beaten unconscious and held for hours with his mother at a police station until they were released without charges. In another case, Border Police officers entered the home of Manal ‘Awad (39), a mother of five from the village of Beit Ummar, and used her as a human shield, forcing her to carry equipment upstairs for them.
In recent weeks, several Palestinians have gone on hunger strike to protest their administrative detention – which is incarceration for an indefinite period of time without knowing the reason for the arrest or standing trial. Two detainees are still on hunger strike, one of them for more than 100 days now. Israel makes broad use of administrative detention against Palestinians, including children, and a hunger strike is one of the only ways the detainees can protest. B’Tselem calls on Israel to release all administrative detainees.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government recently declared several Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations terrorist groups. This outrageous move, aimed at shutting the organizations down, befits totalitarian regimes. We proudly stand in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues and will continue our efforts to have the declaration revoked.
We continue our ongoing documentation of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. These actions, which have long since become a daily part of Palestinian life, are a form of violence carried out in service of the state. In recent months, B’Tselem’s field researchers have documented dozens of incidents in which settlers attacked and injured Palestinians, including small children, stoned homes, and stole property or damaged it, including cutting down thousands of trees.
Even in a routine of violence, some cases stand out in their severity. In one horrifying incident, settlers abducted 15-year-old Tareq Zbeidi, ran him over with their car, tied him to the moving vehicle, beat and kicked him, sprayed pepper-spray in his eyes, and then tied him to a tree and scorched his feet with a lighter. In another, dozens of settlers, escorted by security forces, carried out a pogrom in the community of al-Mufaqarah on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, during which they attacked residents and homes, cracked a 3-year-old’s skull and vandalized property. The attack was one of the most severe area residents remember.
As described in our report State Business, settler violence is one of the means the state employs to expel Palestinians and take over their land. About a week after the attack on al-Mufaqarah, Civil Administration personnel confiscated a tent in the community and destroyed an access road and a pipeline supplying water to nearby communities. Later on, not far off, they demolished the home of a family of 15, including seven minors, and blocked two access roads. Combining these forms of violence puts tremendous pressure on the communities, which are some of the most underprivileged in the territory Israel controls. The goal is to drive them to leave their areas of residence, ostensibly of their accord.
Visit our blogs Settler Violence = State Violence and Communities Facing Expulsion to read up on dozens of other recent incidents. These include settler violence, backed by the military, against Palestinians in central Hebron and against Palestinian farmers throughout the West Bank during the olive harvest, as well as many examples of Israel’s concerted assault on Palestinian communities.
B’Tselem in the media:
Israel covertly backs settler violence and land grab in West Bank, op-ed by B’Tselem Researcher, Eyal Hareuveni, Ynet
In Five Years, Four New Settler Farms Took Palestinian Land the Size of a Big Town, Amira Hass, Haaretz
Israel Must Deal With Settler Violence Sooner Rather Than Later, Haaretz editorial
Israel outlaws Palestinian rights groups, alleging terrorism, Joseph Krauss, Associated Press
Palestinian Rights Groups That Document Israeli Abuses Labeled “Terrorists” by Israel, Robert Mackey, The Intercept
Israel labels Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organisations, Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian
Israel Accuses 6 Palestinian Rights Groups of Terrorism, Patrick Kingsley, The New York Times
Hungerstreik als Ultima Ratio, Judith Poppe, TAZ
450 settler attacks on Palestinians in two years: Israeli NGO, Al Jazeera
Israeli NGO: 450 settler attacks on Palestinians in two years, i24 News
Israel uses settler violence as 'tool' to take Palestinian land: B'Tselem, Middle East Eye
IDF troops force Palestinian kids out of bed to be illegally photographed, Elior Levy, Ynet
Video: Palestinian kids lined up for photo in Israeli raid, Tia Goldenberg, Associated Press
Rights group: Israeli settler violence tool to seize land, The Washington Post
Calls mount for Israel to free Palestinians on hunger strike, The Seattle Times
‘The West Bank is a no man’s land as far as settlers are concerned’, Ben Lynfield, Plus 61J
In brazen attack by settlers, Palestinians see larger threat, Jack Jeffery, Associated Press
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village, wound toddle, Jossef Kraus, Associated Press
As world leaders gather at the UN, the violation of Palestinian rights must be on the agenda, Hanan Ashrawi and Lakhdar Brahimi, The Guardian
Academic experts believe that Middle East politics are actually getting worse, Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami, The Washington Post
Settlers attack Palestinian farmers, 3 injured, rights group says, Associated Press