The rise in attacks on settlers since the war in Gaza has provoked widespread alarm and condemnation.
Tuwani:
In a desert region of the occupied West Bank, Israeli activist Eyal Shani placed a small camera on his t-shirt to collect evidence of settler violence against Palestinian sheep farmers.
Activists like Shani have been trying to protect Palestinians from Jewish settlers in the rugged Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron in the southern West Bank, but say this has become increasingly difficult as attacks increase following the outbreak of war in Gaza. .
“If we are not here, the settlers will take all the power into their hands, they will not see the Palestinians as human beings,” said the 56-year-old. “We are the last shield.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank, where three million Palestinians live, since 1967 and around 490,000 Israeli settlers live there in communities considered illegal under international law.
The increase in attacks on settlers since the war in Gaza has provoked widespread alarm and condemnation, including from the UN.
Several times a week, Shani visits Masafer Yatta and checks on Palestinian shepherds like Shihada Salameh Makhamreh, 60, who lives with his family in a rock-cut village.
Their cool cave keeps the heat out, but it doesn’t protect them from the Israelite settlers who have moved nearby.
Makhamreh said that in mid-January, a group of young settlers attacked his house in the middle of the night and beat his 75-year-old mother.
Since then, he said, the family has lived in terror, unable to understand why they were targeted in such a remote area.
“We are peaceful people,” Makhamreh said. “We don’t do politics.”
– ‘A free hand’ –
Attacks on settlers in the West Bank have been on the rise for some time, but have increased even more rapidly since the Hamas attack on October 7, which triggered Israel’s attack on Gaza.
The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, recorded 1,096 attacks on settlers between October 7 and March 31, an average of six per day, up from three per day before October 7 and two per day in 2022.
Israeli activists say they have struggled to keep emboldened settlers away.
Anti-settler activist Ehud Krinis, 57, said West Bank settlers have been able to count on the support of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
Two prominent Israeli ministers live in settlements – Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – and Krinis said the settlers now feel they have a “free hand to do almost anything they want.”
Meanwhile, Israeli activists visiting Masafer Yatta say they have felt increasingly isolated since October 7.
“Some people see me as a traitor because I betrayed the Zionist idea of having a free Jewish state,” Shani said.
Irene Bleier Lewenhoff, 73, a retired nurse who came with Krinis to bring food to the Makhamreh family, said she felt “very, very lonely” in Israeli society since the war, despite campaigning against Israel’s occupation of the West. . Bank for over 50 years.
The problems in Masafer Yatta are long-standing, with the Israeli army declaring the area a restricted military zone in the 1980s.
In May 2022, after a long legal battle, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the military and helped pave the way for the eviction of Palestinian residents who claimed their ancestors had lived there for generations.
Krinis said the army was allowing settlers to move into the Masafer Yatta Hills to expel the Palestinian population.
“The army doesn’t want to evacuate them directly, so they are trying to do it indirectly,” he said.
The idea was “to let the settlers be the ones to put pressure on there,” he said.
If settlers make life difficult enough, Krinis said, Palestinians will eventually “decide for themselves to walk away.”
– ‘Difficult and dangerous’ –
At least 491 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since October 7, according to Palestinian officials.
In the same period, at least 19 Israelis were killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians, according to official Israeli data.
Elsewhere in Masafer Yatta, Israeli activists have helped another Palestinian family after a settler attack.
Zakaria al-Adra said that on October 13, a settler shot him at close range in the village of Al-Tuwani, south of Hebron.
Images shared by Israeli rights group BTselem appear to show soldiers standing next to the gunman.
The 29-year-old said that, despite having undergone more than 10 medical operations, he was no longer able to work or support his wife and four children, including 10-month-old twins.
Ehud and Irene visit weekly, bringing supplies including diapers for the babies.
Adra’s wife Shouq, 24, told AFP that life has become more “difficult and dangerous” since October 7.
“The entire settlement has weapons,” she said, adding that even Israeli and foreign volunteers were no longer safe.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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