JERUSALEM, August 6, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers’ vandalism in the occupied West Bank is routine and is done with full backing by the Israeli authorities, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said on Monday.
“In just over two months, from the beginning of May to 7 July 2018, B’Tselem documented 10 instances in which settlers destroyed a total of more than 2,000 trees and grapevines and burned down a barley field and bales of hay,” it said in a new report titled “Settler Violence: Absence of Law Enforcement.”
In some places, the settlers left behind them graffiti slogans in Hebrew, reading “No to farmer terrorism” and “"There‘s not place we won‘t reach". Some of the farmers had already suffered settler violence in recent years, said B’Tselem.
“While this high incidence of the assaults is unusual, the phenomenon itself has long since become routine in the West Bank. Settler violence and vandalism takes place with full backing by the Israeli authorities. Sometimes soldiers take part in the assault; at other times, they stand idly by. The police makes no substantial effort to investigate the incidents, nor takes measures to prevent them or stop them in real time,” it said.
“Israel benefits from the repercussions, as settler violence has gradually dispossessed Palestinians of more and more areas in the West Bank, paving the way for a state takeover of land and resources. This occurs because Palestinians avoid entering areas in which they have been attacked, usually close to settlements. As a result, extensive Palestinian farmland near settlements has been vandalized and neglected to such an extent that it yields poor crops, making it not worthwhile for the owners to risk their safety to get there. This process has essentially erected invisible walls throughout the West Bank, which Palestinians know crossing will expose them to violence and even danger to their lives.”
B’Tselem made its report based on the testimonies of a number of Palestinian farmers who suffered as a result of settler violence and vandalism.
M.K.
