Israeli settlers and the army blocked Palestinian farmers from harvesting olives in October (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been subjected to violent attacks by Israeli settlers, including burning Palestinian homes, farms and destroying olive groves, as attacks have escalated in recent weeks.
Settlers stormed the village of Beit Furik near Nablus on Saturday and set fire to a car and farm buildings, according to local media reports.
Footage shared online, not independently verified by The New Arab, showed a small building surrounded by olive groves on fire and a car burning.
In a second video, a fight appears to have broken out between hooded masked settlers and local Palestinians throwing stones at each other and shouting at them to leave. Israeli forces reportedly blocked the roads surrounding the village and failed to stop the settlers, according to reports.
In another incident on Saturday, Israeli settlers forced a family to leave their home and land in Duma, a village south of Nablus, the head of the village council told Palestinian news agency Wafa. The settlers were armed and forced the Ara’ara family to leave, Suleiman Dawabsheh told Wafa.
The Palestinian president’s spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh on Saturday called on the international community to intervene to halt the escalating aggressions. The US administration’s support for Israel is allowing them to defy international law, Abu Rudeineh said.
“Our people will remain steadfast in the face of the occupation and its crimes, and will confront these crimes, clinging to their land, holy sites and rights, stressing that Israeli terrorism by the occupation army and colonists, and American support will not achieve security and stability in the entire region,” he said.
The situation in the occupied West Bank has been tense for months, as settlers have been emboldened under Israel’s far-right government ministers such as national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Ben-Gvir, himself a settler, has a known record of provocative acts against Palestinians and called for Israelis to take up weapons.
Smotrich also serves as a minister in the defence ministry and holds responsibility for the Civil Administration which oversees parts of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. He recently called for total Israeli “sovereignty” over the West Bank in 2025, comments which were condemned by some European governments.
Human rights groups and international media investigations have documented widespread violations and abuse by settlers towards Palestinian communities.
The West Bank and East Jerusalem have been under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 war. There are some 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 250 settlements on Palestinian land.
Earlier this year, the UN’s top court said that Israel’s occupation was against international law and called for the country’s immediate withdrawal.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 181 attacks in October by Israeli settlers which have caused damage to Palestinian people or property in the West Bank. It marks the highest number in a single month since October 2023.
Some 353 Palestinians were injured by the violence and a total of 71 structures destroyed.
The UK and US governments have moved to sanction Israeli individuals known for their violence against Palestinians, but critics say it do not address the root of the problem.
A group of Democratic politicians on Friday urged President Joe Biden to sanction members of the Israeli government over the settler and anti-Palestinian attacks before the end of his presidential term.
“We write to express our deep concern about the rise in settler violence, settlement expansion, and measures adopted to weaken the Palestinian Authority and destabilize the West Bank,” they stated in a letter.
Earlier in November, settlers set fire to nearly 20 vehicles and damaged Palestinian property in al-Birah, which was documented by Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din.
During one week in November 39 incidents of settler violence were recorded by OCHA with over half of these incidents attacks on people or properties, as well as the burning of some 600 olive trees by settlers.
