Over the past week, a surge of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has left several dead and many more injured or displaced. From April 12-16, hundreds of settlers launched brutal raids on multiple Palestinian villages, setting fires to homes, trees, and vehicles.
At least four Palestinians were killed in these attacks, including 17-year-old Omar Hamed near Ramallah, and two men - Abdulrahman Bani Fadel and Mohammed Bani Jami' - shot dead near Nablus. On April 20th, a Palestinian paramedic was also shot and killed in the village of al-Sawiya.
Video evidence verified by Amnesty International shows Israeli forces standing by and failing to intervene as settlers attacked Palestinians and their property in villages like Deir Dibwan. Witness testimony indicates soldiers even participated in assaults on Palestinians in places like Aqraba and Kufr Malik.
"This appalling spike in settler violence is part of a decades-long, state-backed campaign by Israel to dispossess, displace, and oppress Palestinians through its illegal settlement enterprise and system of apartheid in the occupied territories," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty's Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
She condemned Israeli forces for enabling and participating in the settler attacks, which she described as "integral to the establishment, expansion, and sustaining of Israel's apartheid regime" through the illegal settlements.
The recent wave of violence began after a 14-year-old Israeli settler went missing and was found dead on April 13th. But rights groups say settler attacks on Palestinians were already systematic and increasing since last October, displacing around 20 communities.
Many of the villages struck were hosting Palestinians recently displaced by settler violence elsewhere. One woman described settlers repeatedly driving communities from their homes through intensifying attacks over the past five years.
Amnesty is calling for concerted international pressure on Israel to immediately halt all settlement expansion, dismantle existing settlements which are war crimes under international law, and end its occupation and apartheid oppression of Palestinians.
"Imposing limited sanctions on violent settlers fails to address the root causes - Israel's illegal settlement policies, military occupation, and institutionalized system of apartheid domination over Palestinians," said Morayef. "This cycle of violence and dispossession will continue until Israel is held accountable."
