Saturday, October 02, 2021

Israel escalating abuse against Palestinians in Hebron: PLO

PLO accuses Israel of subjecting Palestinians in Hebron to harsh life and depriving them of basic needs


Awad Rajoub |02.10.2021


RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday accused Israel of escalating its abuses against 3,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank city of Hebron to pave way for their eventual displacement.

Hebron is witnessing "an escalation in attacks on citizens and their properties in an attempt to intimidate them…to eventually displace them from their lands in favor of expanding (its illegal) settlements, "the PLO’s National Center for the Defense of Land said in a report.

“The threats of the occupation and its settlement ambitions affect the residents in an area of about 38,500 dunams where more than 3,000 citizens reside,” it added.

A dunam equals 1,000 square meters.

The PLO accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians in Hebron -- especially those in Yatta district -- to harsh life and depriving them of basic needs to conduct “ethnic cleansing using various means including hiring settlers to carry out this task under the protection of the occupation army."

Last week, the PLO warned of Israeli plans to consolidate its settlements in the occupied West Bank by building synagogues. It mentioned a number of villages and ruins mostly affected by the Israeli violations.

On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid termed an Israeli settler attack on Palestinians in Hebron, in which 12 people were injured, as “terror”.

Attackers, who even stabbed some of the goats of Palestinian farmers in the area, also threw stones at Palestinian houses and vehicles.

Meanwhile, left-wing Knesset member Ofer Kassif shared a video clip on his Twitter account showing a number of dead sheep bearing stab wounds caused by sharp tools and knives used by settlers.

Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate that there are about 650,000 settlers in West Bank settlements, including occupied Jerusalem, living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in occupied territories are considered illegal.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar

US, UK condemn Israeli settler attack on Palestinian village in South Hebron Hills


Masked Israeli settlers getting ready to attack Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills.

RAMALLAH, Saturday, October 02, 2021 (WAFA) – The United States and the United Kingdom have condemned an attack carried out by colonial Israeli settlers on Tuesday evening in which 12 Palestinian civilians were injured, including a 3-year-old boy, in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank.

James Cleverly, the UK Minister of State for Middle East and North Africa, condemned the attack in a tweet. "The UK condemns this violent act against a Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills by settlers on 28 Sept," Cleverly tweeted. "Israel must tackle this problem and protect Palestinians," he added.

The US government also condemned the attack. "The U.S. government strongly condemns the acts of settler violence that took place against Palestinians in villages near Hebron in the West Bank on September 28," a US Embassy spokesperson was quoted as saying by CNN.

On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of masked Israelis, marking the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, threw stones at Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills. The rocks smashed cars and injured at least 12 Palestinians including Mohammad Bakr Hussein, aged three.

In videos from the scene, Israeli settlers can be seen breaking Palestinian car windows and hurling stones at Palestinian homes.

The confrontations took place near the small Palestinian shepherding village of al-Mufaqara, a cluster of homes located close to two illegal Israeli outposts, Avigayil and Havat Maon.

The left-wing NGO Peace Now called the attack a "pogrom." According to another Israeli human rights group, Breaking the Silence, while incidents like the one on Tuesday represent one of the worst acts of settler violence in the area for years, other types of intimidation against local Palestinians, like stealing goats and sheep, polluting water cisterns, and attacking children on their way to school, are an almost daily occurrence.

Human rights groups say settlers suspected of violence against Palestinians are rarely arrested or detained, and by Friday evening up to four of the five detained in connection with Tuesday's attack had been released, according to Israeli media reports.

M.N./M.K.

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