Days of Palestine – Ramallah
A number of Palestinian vehicles were vandalized Friday overnight in a new wave of Israeli settler attacks across the West Bank, according to local sources.
In the central West Bank, settlers, under Israeli occupation forces (IOF) protection, congregated at Ein Ayyoub Road close to Kharbatha Bani Harith village, west of Ramallah, intercepting and hurling stones at Palestinian commuters, causing damage to some of them.
Over 20 settlers attacked a vehicle traveling on the Nablus-Ramallah Road, close to Silwad town, east of Ramallah, pelting it with stones and empty bottles and causing damages to it, as reported by Hatem Dhiyab, a resident of the Jenin-district town of Kafr Ra’i.
Dhiyab added that his son, Sayf, who was driving the vehicle, was scared and panicked as he speeded to Ramallah without sustaining any injury.
In the Nablus district, settlers attacked vehicles close to the colonial settlement of Yitzhar, built on the lands of a cluster of villages, south of Nablus, smashing the windshields of several vehicles.
Similar attacks were confirmed near the entrance of Beit Furik town, east of Nablus, causing damages.
In the Bethlehem district, a group of settlers blocked off the Jerusalem-Hebron Road, also known as Road 60, close to the colonial settlement bloc of Gush Etzion.
The recent uptick of settler attacks has prompted the European Union to call on Israel to take measures to protect the Palestinians, expressing its concern about the increasing violence of Israeli settlers in the West Bank
“Under IHL (international humanitarian law), IL (international law), authorities (of Israel) must take all necessary measures to protect Palestinians and their property against settler violence,” the EU Delegation to the Palestinians tweeted on Wednesday.
From the beginning of this year until 21 March, Israeli settlers carried out 128 attacks in the West Bank, 113 of which caused property damage and, in 15 of them, Palestinian were injured, according to the UN.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Settler violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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