(AFP) — More than 100 Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank early Tuesday, drawing rare condemnation from Israeli leaders after three security officers were injured.
The raid and a separate attack on another West Bank village Tuesday came amid mounting international criticism of settler violence, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed in an address last week at the United Nations.
Settlers stormed Jalud in the northern West Bank as the military tried to accompany a Palestinian family back to its home. The family had been displaced by settler attacks more than two months earlier.
The Israeli military said “more than 100 Israeli rioters” were in the Jalud area overnight and that soldiers and border police tried to disperse them.
“As a result of the clashes, three Israel Border Police officers were lightly injured, and a security forces vehicle was damaged,” the military said in a statement.
Police said one person was arrested and two minors were taken in for questioning.
The military said settlers blocked roads, set tires on fire and threw rocks at security forces. They also set fire to Palestinian buildings and vehicles in the village.
The attack prevented the family’s return, the military said. It said the family had been displaced “following several incidents of (Israeli) nationalist crime against them.”
Israeli leaders condemn attack
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and has accelerated settlement expansion there. About 500,000 Israeli settlers live among 3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu condemned the attack, blaming “a small group of rioters.” Their actions “cause great harm to that community and interfere with our forces as they carry out their mission,” he said.
President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, called the attack “a moral stain, an assault on the rule of law and our most fundamental values as a people and a nation.”
Such criticism is rare when the victims of settler attacks are Palestinian. Attacks on Palestinians, including beatings, vandalism and arson, averaged six a day in the first half of the year, according to the United Nations.
Recent weeks have also seen high-profile attacks on Israelis in the West Bank, including the shooting death of a settler by a Palestinian.
Israel has voiced outrage and imposed diplomatic repercussions after Britain, the Netherlands and other countries imposed sanctions on products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
More attacks reported
Mahmoud al-Toubasi, a member of the family seeking to return to Jalud, told AFP that he and his relatives left their home more than two months ago and that settlers had occupied it until Tuesday.
“My wife, my son and I went to the house in the car, accompanied by an army vehicle in front of us and another behind us,” he said.
Settlers attacked the group when it arrived, and soldiers pushed them back with pepper spray, he said.
“We were not physically injured, but we suffered some choking from the pepper spray,” al-Toubasi said.
In a separate attack Tuesday, dozens of settlers from hilltop outposts raided the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, residents told AFP. An AFP journalist saw at least five burned-out cars.
Al-Mughayyir is frequently attacked because of its isolated location and the settlement outposts surrounding it.
In Beitunia, near Ramallah, dozens of settlers gathered to pray for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, using loudspeakers, Mayor Ribhi Dawla told AFP.
“This gathering is a dangerous precedent,” he said. “There are ambitions for settlements in the area, they placed a caravan in the western part of the town and installed an iron gate.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported Tuesday evening that its crews were treating three people who had been beaten by settlers in the Jamala area near Ramallah and taking them to a hospital.
Violence in the West Bank has increased since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,111 Palestinians during that period, including militants and civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data.
Israeli figures show at least 49 Israelis, including civilians and security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations over the same period.
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