Jewish settlers today attacked shepherds and cut olive trees in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank, while others set up a mobile home on land in Beita town in the north of the West Bank as a prelude to taking over the land, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
In Masafer Yatta, Jewish settlers from the illegal Maon settlement attacked shepherds as they were grazing their sheep in the open fields and forced them to take their sheep and leave the area, according to Fouad al-Imour, a local activist.
Israeli settlers cut hundreds of olive trees today in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. #IsraeliCrimes pic.twitter.com/PLPkEBQrU0
— PLO Department of Public Diplomacy & Policy (@PalestinePDP) August 22, 2020
In another incident, settlers from the illegal Mitpze Yair and Susyia settlements, built on expropriated Palestinian land in Masafer Yatta, cut hundreds of olive trees in the area.
In the northern West Bank, Jewish settlers set up a mobile home on Palestinian land in the town of Beita, near the illegal settlement named 777, which is often the first step in taking over the land and placing more housing units on it, according to Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the north of the West Bank.
Israeli settlers today attacked Palestinian shepherds and cut olive trees in Masafer Yatta in the south of the West Bank, while others set up a mobile home on land in Beita town in the north of the West Bank as a prelude to taking over the land. #EndApartheid #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/dZvcJO8AyN
— Palestinian Return Centre (@prclondon) August 22, 2020
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
“Jewish settler violence should not be analyzed separately from the violence meted out by the Israeli army, but seen within the larger context of the violent Zionist ideology that governs Israeli society entirely,” wrote Palestinian author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud.
#Watch| Israeli occupation soldiers prevent native Palestinians from performing Friday prayer in lands, threatened to be annexed, in Masafer Yatta in Hebron.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/Mkgw1NbgBR
— The Inside Palestine (@TheInsidePal) August 21, 2020
“Settler violence has long since become part of Palestinians’ daily life under occupation,” according to the Human Rights Group B’tselem. “Israeli security forces enable these actions, which result in Palestinian casualties – injuries and fatalities – as well as damage to land and property. In some cases, they even serve as an armed escort, or even join in the attacks”.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
