HRW: Settlers’ attacks in West Bank increasingly driving Palestinians into forced displacement
NEW YORK, Aug. 20 (YPA) – Human Rights Watch said that settlers’ attacks in the occupied West Bank are increasingly driving Palestinians into forced displacement, warning that dozens of Palestinian villages and communities face the risk of being erased as such attacks intensify.
In a statement issued today, the organization said settlers’ violence had completely or partially displaced residents from 107 villages and communities, affecting around 5,900 Palestinians since January 2023. It added that 15 Palestinians, including two children, had been killed by settlers since the beginning of this year through July 24.
Human Rights Watch said Israeli authorities arm, fund and grant impunity to settlers responsible for such abuses, noting that violence escalated during March and April and included killings, including of children, assaults, sexual violence, physical and psychological abuse, arbitrary detention, arson, and the destruction and theft of property.
The organization said an investigation it conducted in April and May examined colonists’ attacks on seven Palestinian villages and communities: al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas and al-Taybeh in the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate; Jalud and Qaryout in the Nablus governorate; and Khirbet Humsa and al-Ma’arajat in the Jordan Valley.
The investigation found that settlers attacked Palestinian residents and their property, in some cases committing abuses while Israeli army units were present or while soldiers stood by without intervening, contributing to a pattern of forced displacement.
Human Rights Watch said the attacks increasingly target Palestinians’ livelihoods and food security by restricting access to grazing areas and water sources, stealing or killing livestock, and destroying or burning agricultural fields and crops. This has forced many residents either to sell their livestock, often at a loss, or incur additional costs to provide them with feed.
The organization said the continuing attacks had created a coercive environment in which many Palestinians felt they had no choice but to leave their homes, describing colonists’ violence and the resulting displacement as a manifestation and means of advancing Israel’s expanding illegal settlement project.
It said settlers responsible for displacing Palestinians receive financial, material and legal support from the Israeli government, noting that around 50 million shekels had been allocated to settlement outposts, including funding for quad bikes, night-vision goggles and drones used by settlers to harass Palestinians.
Human Rights Watch said Israeli authorities have failed to prosecute and hold settlers accountable for violence against Palestinians, effectively granting them impunity despite an unprecedented rise in settler attacks.
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