Settler Violence = State Violence

In recent years — and especially since 7 October 2023 — there has been a sharp increase in both the number and severity of settler attacks against Palestinians. The incidents reported on this blog do not reflect all incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, but only those that B’Tselem was able to document and investigate.

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Displaying 621-640 of 2015 updates. An update can cover more than one incident.
Dates

  2. 13 February 2024 Kh. al-Mufaqarah Incidents: 1

    When Qassem Hamamdeh (50), a resident of al-Mufaqarah, was grazing his sheep in pastureland between al-Mufaqarah and Khallet a-Dabe’, a settler arrived, tried to drive the sheep away by shouting and then called for reinforcements. Two other settlers, one of them armed, who arrived within a few minutes helped the first one drive away the flock and told Hamamdeh he was not allowed to return to this area, claiming the land belonged to them. Hamamdeh was forced to go home with the flock, and the settlers left.

  14. 8 February 2024 Sadet a-Tha'lah Incidents: 1

    At around 8:30 A.M., while eight shepherds from the community were grazing their flock on their private lands accompanied by Israeli activists, eight soldiers arrived in a military jeep headed by an officer known to the residents as a local settler. They called the shepherds and activists over to them and checked their ID cards. Another military jeep arrived about ten minutes later, and stopped about 70 meters from the pastureland. A soldier who got out of the jeep flew a drone over the flock, scattering it, and then the soldiers chased the animals. The shepherds tried to gather the frightened animals and lead them back to the fold, and then the soldiers began chasing after them as well. The officer, known to the residents as a settler, detained one shepherd, Yusef Makhamrah on site for about 20 minutes. The rest of the shepherds, meanwhile, managed to lead the flock back to the fold, but due to the panic, 11 goats died and 37 miscarried their fetuses. A short while later, a soldier known to the residents as a settler arrived in the community and presented the shepherds with a document declaring their pasturelands a closed military zone for 30 days.