A family packs up their belongings in Khirbet Zanuta, the occupied West Bank
Oslo, August 22 (RHC)-- The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has called on the international community to intervene and protect the Palestinian communities against the backdrop of Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
The settler violence has caused the largest wave of forcible transfers of Palestinian communities since October 7, 2023.
Israeli settlers have attacked community members in their homes, erecting new settler outposts and blocked access to water. Three communities, comprising 119 Palestinians, have been forced out over the past 10 days as a result.
Two communities, namely al-Farsiya Khallet Khader and al-Farisiya al-Zu'bi, have been completely depopulated, while only one family remains in the third community, Ein al-Hilweh – Um al-Jmal.
“Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, bear direct responsibility for the actions of violent settlers,” said Allegra Pacheco, chief of the NRC-led West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC).
“These attacks, occurring in broad daylight under the watching eyes and the protective force of the Israeli military, highlight the unlawfulness of Israel’s presence in the West Bank, as recently ruled by the International Court of Justice. Palestinians are being forced to leave their land in what clearly constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law,”
Overall, 18 communities in the al-Maleh region in the northeastern part of the West Bank, all of which are supported by the WBPC, have already been displaced or face an imminent risk of forcible transfer.
It is estimated that nearly a quarter of a million euros’ worth of humanitarian assistance provided by the WBPC is potentially impacted, with some aid already destroyed or looted by settlers.
Earlier last week, an attack by dozens of Israeli settlers devastated a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, sparking widespread international condemnation. More than 70 armed settlers invaded the town of Jit on August 15, firing bullets and tear gas at residents and setting several homes and cars and other property on fire, according to the head of Jit’s village council, Nasser Sedda.
As the Israeli military stated, dozens of Israeli citizens, some masked, set fires and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated three injuries from settler attacks in the town, including an elderly woman affected by gas inhalation and two young men injured by stones.
