Settlers attack Palestinians and activists near Hebron, vandalize vehicles

A group of Palestinian farmers from the Hebron-area town of Halhul in the West Bank and activists from the Bnei Avraham organization who were protecting them were attacked by a group of some 10 settlers on Monday, an activist from Bnei Avraham told The Times of Israel.

The activist, who asked not to be named, said that around 30 Palestinians and activists had arrived to work on privately owned Palestinian farmland near Halhul. The farmland is located in Area C, where Israel maintains both security and civilian control.

The group was also accompanied by a CNN media crew, there to document the day’s activities, the Ynet news outlet reported.

The activist said that the settlers who initially descended on them were from a nearby outpost, and were later joined by others from additional outposts in the area.

The group assaulted the Palestinians and activists, punching and kicking them, she recounted, before vandalizing five vehicles, most of them Palestinian-owned, smashing their windows and mirrors, and slashing their tires.

One of the cars that was vandalized reportedly belonged to the CNN crew.

Another activist who had been present at the scene told Ynet that the settlers “broke into the field and started shouting and threatening the Palestinians, including young girls.”

The Palestinians and activists tried to put space between themselves and the settlers, the activist recounted, but “they continued to try and approach the Palestinians and threaten them.”

The activist told ToI that following the violent incident, IDF troops arrived at the scene and presented an order declaring the area a closed military zone, before removing the Palestinians and activists from the area.

Local residents are supposed to be exempt from closed military zone orders, and the one wielded by the troops had been issued to evacuate the nearby illegal outpost, not the Palestinian farmland.

הממשלה מממנת את הטרור היהודי

לפני זמן קצר מתנחלים קיצונים השחיתו רכבים של פלסטינים שלוו על ידי פעילי קבוצת הנוכחות המגינה ״בני אברהם״ ליד חלחול.

הצבא הגיע, הכריז על שטח צבאי סגור, סילק את הפעילים והשאיר את המתנחלים בשטח. אחרי שהצבא הלך, המתנחלים חזרו להתנכל לפעילים.

ממש… pic.twitter.com/AwZWp7cg2M

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The Bnei Avraham activists and Palestinians filed a complaint with police over the incident.

In response to an inquiry from ToI, the IDF said troops “attempted to disperse everyone in the area” after “Israeli civilians smashed windows and vandalized vehicles.”

It did not address the forced removal of Palestinian landowners from the area.

According to Ynet, two off-duty IDF reservists were among the Bnei Avraham activists. The organization, which describes itself as a “Jewish religious action group,” is one of several left-wing and pro-peace Israeli groups that works with Palestinian communities in the West Bank to protect them from settler attacks.

Elsewhere in the West Bank on Monday, settlers were reported to have destroyed dozens of privately owned olive trees near Bethlehem.

A local source told the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency that the settlers descended on an olive grove owned by a resident of Kisan, a village east of Bethlehem, and damaged around 50 trees.

Settlers have increasingly targeted Kisan in acts of violence in recent weeks, Wafa reported, and shepherds from the village have previously been attacked.

Violent attacks by settlers are a daily occurrence in the West Bank, with extremists assaulting Palestinians, torching their cars, damaging their property, and stealing their livestock without fear of repercussion.

Arrests in cases of settler violence are rare, and convictions are even less common. The IDF has faced criticism for often standing by and failing to prosecute perpetrators, or even for actively participating in the rampages.

In contrast, the military frequently arrests Palestinians who confront the settler violence with violence of their own.