Aanvallen door kolonisten sterk toegenomen sinds de pandemie

Settler attacks rise by 78 percent amid pandemic

Tamara Nassar Rights and Accountability 11 April 2020

Israeli forces take position during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, on 3 April.
Shadi Jarar’ah APA images

There has been a sharp uptick in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even after UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a global ceasefire to obstruct the spread of the pandemic, Israel killed two Palestinians, including a child, and increased its attacks.

Israel continued its “military raids into the West Bank, conducted widespread arrests and administrative detentions, allowed for serious spikes in settler violence and continued its draconian closure of the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian rights organization Al Haq has stated.

In the last two weeks of March, the number of settler attacks on Palestinians was 78 percent higher than usual, according to the UN monitoring group OCHA.

During that time, “at least 16 attacks by Israeli settlers resulted in five Palestinian injuries and extensive property damage,” OCHA reported.

While Mohammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, ordered a two-week lockdown on all Palestinian residents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during that time, his decision had no bearing on some 800,000 Israelis living in illegal settlements.

These settlers share certain roads, grocery stores and gas stations with Palestinians, frequently subjecting them to verbal harassment, physical assault and property damage.

Israeli forces “failed to intervene to prevent the unlawful behavior, instead providing support and protection for settlers, ensuring that such individuals are not held to account, and consolidating the existing regime of impunity,” Al Haq stated.

Settlers enjoy near-total impunity for violence they commit against Palestinians, which only encourages more attacks.

Faced with constant attacks, Palestinians are struggling to take health precautions in light of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, settlers are exploiting the lockdown to increase their attacks with little resistance from Palestinian residents.

Further
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/settler-attacks-rise-78-percent-amid-pandemic