Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss / June 21, 2023
Following calls for escalation from Israeli political leaders, Jewish settlers have launched a series of attacks on West Bank villages in the last 24 hours which have killed one Palestinian and injured dozens of others.
At least one Palestinian has been killed, and dozens of others have been injured in a series of revenge attacks carried out by settlers in the occupied West Bank between Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon local time, the Palestinian Minister of Health said that 25-year-old Omar Jabara from the village of Turmus Ayya arrived at a Ramallah hospital with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest, Wafa News Agency reported.
Jabara was killed during a violent attack on the Ramallah-area village by dozens of Jewish settlers. Videos circulating on social media and local news channels showed Palestinian homes, vehicles, and agricultural lands burning after being set ablaze by groups of settlers.
The mayor of the village reported that around 60 vehicles and 30 homes had been set on fire by settlers. Additionally, the ministry of health reported over a dozen injuries, including several with live ammunition that were in “serious condition.” Residents of the village told journalists that settlers threw Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices to set homes and other property on fire.
Palestinians reported that the Israeli army was present for a portion of the settler attack on Turmus Ayya, and that soldiers fired tear gas and other weapons towards Palestinians that were attempting to fend off the attack.
The attack on Turmus Ayya is one of several settler “revenge attacks” being carried out in the West Bank following the killing of four Jewish settlers by Palestinian gunmen on Tuesday afternoon near the Eli Jewish settlement, which is located between Ramallah and Nablus. Both Palestinians who carried out the shooting were killed by Israeli gunfire shortly after.
Later on Tuesday evening, just hours after the attack, groups of settlers across the northern West Bank descended upon Palestinian villages, hurling rocks at Palestinians and setting fire to their property.
According to local Palestinian media outlets, in Lubban al-Sharqiyah, north of Ramallah, settlers set fire to a Palestinian ambulance, large farmland areas in the village, and several local businesses. Similar attacks were carried out in the nearby villages of Lubban al-Gharbiya, Orif, and Huwara, the latter of which has been the target of numerous settler attacks over the past year.
Local activists told WAFA that on Tuesday night alone, 140 cars were damaged or set on fire in the settlers’ attack and that Israeli forces “joined the settlers in their attacks” against Palestinian civilians, shooting rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters at people who came out to defend their homes, causing at least 34 injuries.
Also on Tuesday night, Jewish settlers threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles traveling down West Bank roads, breaking the windows of several cars and injuring passengers. Settlers throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles have in the past been lethal.
Israeli government encourages the settlers
Following the shooting at Eli, Israeli politicians, and government ministers have vowed to embolden the settlements, and settlers, in their so-called effort to “fight terrorism.”
On Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the shooting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the immediate advancement of planning for 1,000 housing units in the Eli settlements. The decision was reportedly made by Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoave Gallant, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the latter of whom was recently given far-reaching powers over settlement construction in the West Bank.
“Our response to terror is to strike it with force, and to build our country,” a statement from the PM’s office said.
Separately, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made a statement, saying, “Now is the time for a military operation in Judea and Samaria,” referring to the occupied West Bank. Ben-Gvir has made several similar statements earlier this year calling for “Operation Defensive Shield 2” – a reference to the massive military invasion of the West Bank during the Second Intifada in 2002.
“[Now is the time] to return to targeted assassinations from the air, to bring down buildings, to erect roadblocks, to expel terrorists, and to finish passing the death penalty for terrorists law,” Ben-Gvir said.
Other ministers from Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party and leaders of the settler movement also backed his calls for a full-blown military invasion of the West Bank, with more government ministers calling for Israel to respond with an “iron fist.”
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was “convening with the Israeli army chief and other top security officials to discuss a response to the shooting.”
What caused the latest uptick in violence ?
The shooting at Eli and the subsequent settler violence did not happen out of nowhere.
In fact, the shooting came just one day after a massive Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday that has thus far claimed seven lives, including two children.
The raid on the camp was the second largest raid on the camp since January, when Israeli forces shot and killed nine Palestinians in the span of a few hours.
During Monday’s raid, Israeli forces deployed helicopters to fire rockets toward homes in the camp, marking the first time such force has been deployed in the West Bank since the Second Intifada.
The raid on Jenin was a marked escalation by Israel and was met with widespread condemnation and protest on the Palestinian street.
In the wake of the Eli shooting, Palestinians from Jenin told reporters it was a “natural response” to the deadly army raid the day before.
Monday’s raid on the camp was the latest chapter in Israel’s clampdown on Palestinian resistance and armed groups in the West Bank. The Jenin camp has been at the center of Israel’s operations, with dozens of raids and assassination operations conducted in the Jenin area since 2022.
Many civilians have also been killed due to Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian resistance. This week alone, 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire.
Since the start of 2023, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says at least 174 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza.
Yumna Patel is the Palestine News Director for Mondoweiss
