8 incidents reported last week of settler violence against Palestinians, says watchdog group

The Yesh Din organization, which monitors settler violence, counts some eight incidents over the course of six days last week in which settlers allegedly attacked Palestinians or their property in the West Bank.

According to Yesh Din, which opposes the settlement movement, settlers set fire to trees and vandalized property in the Palestinian villages of Huwara and Burin in the northern West Bank on June 15, while Palestinian motorists were stopped and assaulted by “armed settlers” close to the village of Mu’arrajat, east of Ramallah on June 16.

Settlers also reportedly threw stones at homes in the Palestinian hamlet of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills on June 17 and assaulted one of the residents, leaving him with a head wound, while another stone-throwing incident by settlers was reported not far away in the Jabal Jalas neighborhood of Hebron.

On June 18, 19, and 21, Susiya was the subject of vandalism attacks and assault by settlers, Yesh Din says.

And on June 19, land belonging to the village of Surif north of Hebron was set ablaze and villagers were shot at, resulting in the death of a 48-year old Palestinian man, the organization said, and was reported by Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority.

“Under the cover of war and with public attention focused elsewhere, settlers across the West Bank continue to attack, harass, and harm Palestinian residents as they please, without being bothered by Israeli law enforcement,” says Yesh Din.