US sounds alarm over latest incidents of settler violence in West Bank

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller begins his daily press briefing by expressing the Biden administration’s alarm over the latest incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

He highlights last night’s incident in al-Birah, in which 20 cars owned by Palestinians were reportedly torched. Locals say they came under settler gunfire when they went out to try to put out the fires.

Miller points to another incident near Hebron in which Palestinians were attacked by scores of extremist settlers who damaged property, assaulted civilians, and released dogs to attack residents. In the village of Jalud, south of Nablus, dozens of extremist settlers reportedly killed livestock, attacked homes, and set fire to vehicles, the State Department spokesperson says.

He also highlights an uptick in reported attacks by settlers preventing Palestinians from harvesting their olive crops in the West Bank.

“These violent actions cause immense human suffering for Palestinians, they threaten Israel’s security, make the realization of a two-state solution more difficult, and undermine the prospects for peace and stability throughout the region,” Miller says.

The Biden spokesperson urges the Israeli government to crack down on such violence and hold perpetrators accountable.

He notes that the US has a number of tools at its disposal, including sanctions against violent settler extremists, to crack down on the phenomenon.

While Miller says there are no new sanctions being announced by the US today, “it is incidents like this in the past that led us to impose sanctions, and we certainly will be looking at this one, as we look at others to see if the government of Israel takes steps to impose accountability, and if they don’t know [we’ll be looking at] what we might do on our end.”

Miller says the US embassy in Jerusalem has raised this latest attack in al-Bireh with Israel.