Israeli settlers on a rampage

Some Israeli settlers regularly engage in mob violence and instil fear in the occupied territory. And while the killings date back to well before the war in Gaza, it has worsened since the war started. ‘It is as though [settlers] got a green light after October 7 to carry out more crimes,’ said Ghassan Daghlas of the Palestinian Authority.Over the last 15 months, it has been common for settlers to run amok while Israeli soldiers stand by and watch, or worse. Between January 2023 and March 2024, Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank killed 653 people and injured more than 13,000.On April 15, the UN office for human rights warned Israel that, as the occupying power in the West Bank, it has a legal obligation to ensure public order and safety. ‘This obligation includes protecting Palestinians from settler attacks,’ said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.The occupation began with the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and started building settlements on captured Palestinian lands.In the 1980s, Israeli policy encouraged construction of more settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.After the Oslo Accords in 1993, commitments were made to freeze settlement construction — but they failed, and the expansions marched on.Later, in 2005, in a rare victory of sorts for the Palestinians, the Israeli government adopted a Gaza disengagement policy, leading to the withdrawal of all Israeli soldiers and the forced removal of hardline settlers from the territory.On December 23, 2016, in a 14-0 vote, with the US abstaining, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlements as a violation of international law.Regardless, settlement growth has been relentless. Today, there are more than 700,000 settlers — about 10 percent of the Israeli population — many of whom feel free to mob and kill Palestinians. ‘They’re attacking civilians and displacing Palestinians … they are trying to terrorise us,’ said Hind, who lives in Deir Dibwan.