Israeli settlers rampage through occupied West Bank
27th February 2023
HUNDREDS of Israeli settlers have rampaged through the northern occupied West Bank, torching cars, homes and businesses.
A Palestinian man was killed in gunfire - and more than 100 others badly wounded - in what was the worst incident of violence in the area for decades.
The riot, which took place on Sunday evening near Nablus, was said to be in retaliation for the fatal shooting of two Israeli settlers earlier the same day by a lone Palestinian gunman.
The Israeli military said it was continuing to search for the Palestinian who shot brothers Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, and that it had moved in hundreds of extra troops.
The tit-for-tat violence immediately raised doubts about the viability of Jordan’s declaration on Sunday that Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to deescalate tensions.
Videos posted just hours after the summit concluded showed a large mob of Israeli settlers enter the village of Hawara, about four miles south of Nablus, lighting fires and throwing stones.
Ten year-old Lamar Abursarees said her house was one of those set alight.
She told Reuters news agency: “My mother moved us to corner because there was no safe place. They broke all the windows while we were inside.”
A Palestinian official who monitors settlements in the Nablus region, Ghassan Daghlas, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that 30 houses were damaged by stones - or burned down - in Hawara, and 15 vehicles were torched.
Reports also confirm settlers set a barn and three vehicles on fire in nearby Burin and a house and storage tank in Asira al-Qabaliyya.
Palestinian health officials said Sameh Aqtash, 37, died after being shot in the stomach during an attack by settlers in Zaatara.
The region of the West Bank attacked is currently under Israeli control, and Palestinians criticised Israeli security forces for standing by and watching the rampage without intervening.
Major General Yehuda Fuchs, who commands the Israeli militry in the area, said his forces had prepared for attempted settler retribution but had been "suprised" by the intensity of the violence.
"The incident in Huwara was a progrom carried out by outlaws," he told N12 News earlier this week.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called “the terrorist acts carried out by settlers under the protection of the occupation forces tonight.”
“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible,” he added.
The EU said it was “alarmed” by the attacks in Huwara and pleaded that “authorities on all sides must intervene to stop this endless cycle of violence.”
Neil Wigan, the UK’s ambassador to Israel, said: “Israel should tackle settler violence, and bring those responsible to justice.”
As Israeli and Palestinian media picked up the news story and scenes of the violence filled television screens across the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu challenged vigilante attacks.
He said in a statement: “I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don’t take the law into your own hands [...] let the Israel Defence Forces do their job.”
The West Bank region is claimed by the Palestinian people, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future Palestinian state.
But the area was captured by Israel in the 1967 war, when the Israeli state effectively tripled its land holdings.
Approximately 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in defiance of international law.
The UN considers settlements in this area illegal, but Israel disputes this.
