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Photo:
Israeli settlers in Hebron. Published by IMEMC News
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by IMEMC News
Sep 11, 2021

Armed gangs of Israeli paramilitary colonial settlers have been invading Palestinian areas in different parts of the West Bank Saturday, terrorizing local residents, shooting at children, firing rifles into Palestinian homes and damaging Palestinian vehicles as well as a sacred archaeological site.

The attacks took place in Hebron, East Jerusalem, Nablus and Bethlehem areas – but the roving paramilitary gangs are still at large, and Palestinians have reported sightings in other parts of the West Bank as well.

In the northern part of Jerusalem, in the Palestinian town of Ar-Ram, an Israeli paramilitary colonial settler took out a rifle and began to fire live rounds at a group of Palestinian children who were on the street.

Three Palestinian children, aged 13 and 14, told reporters that the bullets whizzed past them, and luckily they were not hit.

According to local sources, an Israeli settler armed with a rifle reportedly arrived by car at the northern entrance to the town, before he opened gunfire in the direction of the three Palestinian children.

The shooter has not been identified or apprehended, and the Israeli police have not issued any statement that they plan to investigate the incident.

Such shootings by armed paramilitary colonial settlers against Palestinians have been increasing in recent months, but Israeli police rarely investigate these crimes, and the perpetrators are given full impunity.

A group of armed paramilitary settlers in the Hebron area, in the southern West Bank, invaded the Palestinian neighborhood of Wadi Hasin and began opening fire on Palestinian homes in the area, as well as at vehicles parked in the neighborhood.

Local resident Jamal Seefan told the Palestinian Wafa News Agency that his home had been shot at and damaged, and his family narrowly escaped being hit.

Seefan added that the paramilitary colonial settlers also broke the windows of three Palestinian vehicles before they left the neighborhood.

Israeli colonial paramilitary settlers in the Hebron area are notorious for their brutal and ongoing assaults against the Palestinian residents of the areas they are attempting to take over by force. Many of these extreme right-wing ideological settlers come from the US to join paramilitary gangs in places like Kiryat Arba – which is known for its celebration and admiration of the terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 gunned down 29 Palestinian men, women and children who were praying in Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. Each year extremists in Kiryat Arba hold a celebration of this event, and dress children in his image.

In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli paramilitary colonial settlers attacked a Palestinian house in the village of Burin, south of Nablus.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors colonial settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said a group of settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar (constructed illegally on stolen Palestinian land in the area) attacked a house in the village of Burin with stones, leading to clashes between the village residents and Israeli forces who provided the settlers with protection. No injuries were reported.

Wafa quoted the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, which stated, “Settler violence and vandalism take place with full backing by the Israeli authorities. Sometimes soldiers take part in the assault; at other times, they stand idly by. The police make no substantial effort to investigate the incidents, nor takes measures to prevent them or stop them in real time.”

Meanwhile, in the Bethlehem area on Saturday, around 200 armed, right-wing paramilitary colonial settlers attacked ancient, sacred archaeological sites at Solomon’s Pools and Irtas, according to local sources.

The private paramilitary forces invaded the sacred sites and caused damage, according to local Palestinian peace activist A’wad Abu Sawi.

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