WEST BANK, Palestine, Sept 29 (NNN-OCHA) – The high level of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians continues, as the annual olive harvest begins. Since the start of 2018, OCHA has documented 217 incidents attributed to Israeli settlers that have resulted in Palestinian casualties (60 incidents) or in damage to Palestinian property (157 incidents).
As a monthly average, this is the highest level of incidents recorded since 2014 and represents a 57 and 175 percent increase compared with 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The most frequent type of incident so far in 2018 involved the vandalising of trees, crops and other agricultural property (71 incidents); stone-throwing and vandalising of Palestinian homes and vehicles, including arson (81 incidents); and various forms of physical assault, most of which targeted farmers and herders (35 incidents).
In 2018 three Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers and 83 were injured, including at least 20 children. In the most recent incident, a 45-year-old Palestinian woman, mother of eight, was killed and her husband injured after being stoned when driving through the Za’atra/Tapuach checkpoint in the northern West Bank.
Although the assailants remain unknown, Israeli security sources indicated that there is a “high probability” that they are Israeli settlers. The other two fatalities were a Palestinian boy and a Palestinian man killed after the man reportedly attempted to stab an Israeli settler.
Properties damaged during incidents this year include some 7,200 Palestinian-owned trees and more than 300 vehicles.
As in previous years, the majority of the trees vandalised were olive trees. However, there has been a significant increase in the targeting of grapevines, with a total of 12 incidents resulting in damage to over 2,300 vines. For example, on May 23, unknown assailants cut 440 grapevines planted from five to 35 years ago on four dunums of land next to Road 60 near Halhul village (Hebron), and sprayed “price tag” and offensive graffiti in Hebrew on rocks nearby; the damage was estimated by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture at over $177,000.
Palestinian access to some cultivated areas requires authorisation (also known as ‘prior coordination’) with the Israeli authorities, on the grounds that these are ‘areas of friction.’ Approximately 90 Palestinian communities own land within or in the vicinity of 56 Israeli settlements and settlement outposts, where ‘prior coordination’ is required. These areas are designated as ‘closed military zones’ and access is permitted only to Palestinian owners during specific times, mostly during the olive harvest and ploughing seasons. 26 of this year’s settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage were recorded in areas requiring ‘prior coordination.’
Nablus governorate continues to be the region most affected by settler violence, accounting for 40 percent of incidents in 2018 (86 incidents), the majority in areas surrounding the settlement of Yitzhar and its adjacent outposts. Nablus is followed by Hebron and Ramallah governorates with 17 and 16 percent of incidents, respectively.
One of the hot-spots in Ramallah governorate is the settlement outpost of Adei Ad, identified as the source of at least eight attacks primarily affecting farmers from Turmusayya village.
The figures cited above exclude incidents of settler raids in Palestinian localities and entries to religious sites there. Many of these incidents generated friction between settlers and Palestinians that triggered the intervention of Israeli forces and subsequent clashes with local residents.
Other settler incidents during this period included the vandalising of cars and the spraying of offensive graffiti. These have been attributed by some media reports to a practice known as “price tag” which aim to exact a price from Palestinians for the removal, by the Israeli authorities, of structures in settlement outposts. Since the beginning of 2018, a number of removals and evictions took place in small settlement outposts associated with radicalised young settlers in Nablus.
As the occupying power, Israel has the obligation to protect Palestinian civilians from all acts or threats of violence, including by Israeli settlers, and to ensure that attacks are investigated effectively and perpetrators held accountable. The failure to do so has been a longstanding concern of the humanitarian community and is believed to contribute to the persistently high levels of settler violence.
In a report issued in Oct, 2018, the Israeli Ministry of Justice (MoJ) stated: “In recent years, Israeli authorities made considerable efforts to enhance law enforcement in the West Bank, which included the establishment of designated task forces, increased allocation of funds, and the addition of professional manpower.”
According to the report, between Jan and July, 2018, Israeli police opened a total of 35 investigations related to settler violence against Palestinians, of which four led to the indictment of suspects, four were closed and the rest are still ongoing.
According to the Israeli human rights organisation, Yesh Din, of 185 investigations monitored by the organisation, which were opened between 2014 and 2017 and reached a final stage, only 21, or 11.4 percent, led to the prosecution of offenders, while the other 164 files were closed without indictment.[ The equivalent rate of indictment for the period 2005-2013 was 7.5 per cent (73 of 978 investigations).
Concerns about lack of accountability exist with regard to both attacks on Palestinians and their property, and also to the takeover of Palestinian private and public (or ‘state’) land by settlers. Law enforcement against takeovers has been minimal, and in most cases required extensive litigation in the Israeli courts. In recent years the Israeli authorities adopted several policies to retroactively legalise (under Israeli law) the takeover of Palestinian land.
Since 2011, at least 29 unauthorised settlement outposts built on land classified by the Israeli authorities as public land have been retroactively issued with building permits, or are in the process of being authorised.
In Jan, 2017, the Israeli Parliament passed a law allowing the expropriation of private Palestinian land, which was taken over and built on by settlers, provided that they had received explicit or implicit support from the authorities.
Official endorsement by the Israeli authorities of the illegal takeover of Palestinian land by settlers has two main ramifications with regard to settler violence. First, this policy has enabled the entrenchment and growth of settlement outposts, some of which have been a consistent source of attacks against Palestinians. Secondly, official endorsement appears to promote an atmosphere of impunity, which may also contribute to settler violence.
The establishment and continuous expansion of settlements is a key driver of humanitarian vulnerability. It deprives Palestinians of their property and sources of livelihood, restricts access to services, and creates a range of protection threats that, in turn, have triggered demand for assistance and protection from the humanitarian community.
The case studies suggest that violence and intimidation, supplemented by various types of access restriction implemented concurrently by both settlers and Israeli forces, have reduced or eliminated Palestinian presence in some areas and facilitated settlement expansion. These restrictions include the deployment of roadblocks and checkpoints; prohibition on the use of roads by Palestinian vehicles; the designation of areas as closed for military purposes or as “nature reserves”; the fencing off of privately-owned Palestinian land; and imposing a ‘prior coordination’ requirement for Palestinian access to farming land.
Since early 2018, Israeli settlers began opening, without building permits or formal authorisation, two new roads on land belonging to residents of Mazra’a al Qibliya and Ras Karkar villages: work on the former was subsequently halted following a court order, while construction on Ras Karkar land is ongoing. During the latter work, settlers took over some 10 dunums of land and planted it with approximately 500 olive saplings.
These developments have prompted regular protests in both villages, many of which evolved into clashes with Israeli forces and settlers. In the latest incident in al Mazra’a al Qibliya, a 33-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces after Israeli settlers raided the village during a demonstration. In total, 118 Palestinians have been injured in these two villages since Feb, 2018, including 28 children.
In the meantime, Palestinian access to areas surrounding Nahliel and Talmon settlements continues to be hampered by settler violence. Since Jan, 2017 OCHA has recorded 23 incidents in this area resulting in either Palestinian casualties or damage to property.
Property damage by Israeli settlers included the vandalism of some 220 olive trees and saplings, a water well, and dozens of vehicles; theft of crops; spraying anti-Palestinian graffiti; and throwing stones at Palestinian farmers and houses.
