As Gaza War Wages On, Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians and Create a New Reality in the West Bank
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This is an article by Haaretz, which focusses on Settlers attacks directed against Palestinians.
Do these actions constitute a step towards the extension of the Gaza genocide to The West Bank.
The exodus of Palestinians to Jordan is contemplated by the Netanhayu government.
M. Ch. November 14, 2023
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While public attention in Israel is gripped by the fighting in the Gaza Strip and the rising tensions along the Lebanese border, the reality in the West Bank is also changing: defense sources say that settlers are having their way, often breaking the law.
These actions are being openly supported by members of the coalition, while security forces mostly turn a blind eye, sometimes even giving the settlers their protection.
Since October 7, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israelis across the West Bank. This includes suspected terrorists killed by security forces. The Shin Bet is aware of four cases in which the settlers shot and killed Palestinians, but estimates put settler violence at a far larger number.
According to the Shin Bet, there have been 120 hate crimes committed by Jews in the West Bank since the war broke out. So far, no charges have been brought in any of these cases.
Besides the overt violence, settlers are also creating facts on the ground by paving roads, which Israel’s court decisions have deemed illegal and invading private Palestinian lands while doing so. Up to this point, several kilometers of new road have been breached, which according to the settlers are meant to keep them safe.
A road was paved from the settlement of Aley Zahav to the hill on which an outpost is planned, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of shekels. To build it, engineering tools were diverted from infrastructure work they carried out for the council. Another route has been breached in Emmanuel, and now the settlers are asking to pave a road that is more than 20 kilometers long, between the Karnei Shomron and Kiryat Netafim settlements.
Although the construction was not coordinated with the IDF, it is being secured by soldiers, and the Civil Administration has refrained from acting on the matter.
The face behind these bold actions is the head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan. According to sources familiar with the events in the West Bank, Dagan and other council officials have in fact “deterred” security forces to the extent that they now act unhindered.
“In [the West Bank] there is no law, it’s an area where anarchy exists and the state turns a blind eye,” a senior Israeli government source told Haaretz.
Click here to read the full article on Haaretz.
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Featured image: Israeli soldiers man a position near the town of Deir Sharaf as Jewish settlers gather near Nablus, West Bank, last week. (Credit: Jaafar Ashtiyeh – AFP)
