JERUSALEM, July 7, 2015 (WAFA) –
Israeli settlers Tuesday chased down and assaulted three Palestinian workers,
while they were present at Jerusalem’s al-Anbiya Street, according to witnesses.
Witnesses told WAFA that a group of
illegal Israeli settlers chased after the workers and physically assaulted
them, injuring at least one of them.
They reported that despite the attack
against the workers, Israeli police, who arrived at the scene of the incident,
arrested two workers, while the third was transferred to a nearby hospital for
medical treatment.
The workers were identified as Mohammed,
37, and Firas Mojahed, 41, and Hassan al-Jolani, 28.
The incident came only hours after a
14-year-old Jerusalemite was injured in the eye after a group of settlers
attacked him along with other teenagers in Jerusalem.
According
to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Israeli security forces do not
always deploy in advance to protect Palestinians from settler violence, even
when such violence could be anticipated. “In some cases, rather than
restricting violent settlers, Israeli security forces impose restrictions on
the Palestinians.”
“As
the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel is obligated to maintain public
order and ensure the safety of the Palestinians in the West Bank, who are
classified a protected population in international law,” says B’Tselem.
A report
published by the Israeli human rights organization of Yesh Din in May 2015
stated that, Israeli settlers enjoy widespread impunity for their attacks
against Palestinians in the West Bank.
“The IDF and
police are neither prepared nor willing to provide the necessary protection to
Palestinians attacked by violent settlers,” it said.
“The State’s
ongoing failure to instate criminal accountability of violent settlers
inadvertently empowers them and supports the continuation of their strategic
brand of violence,” said the report.
Settlement activities are illegal under international law as they
violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the
transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied
M.N./T.R.
