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Photo: Published by Haaretz
Settlers and Palestinian protesters clashing in the West Bank Village of Asira al-Qibliya in February 2024. Credit: Majdi Mohammed/AP.

Hawara Credit: AMMAR AWAD/רויטרס

Settlers looking at a demolished structure in Mitzpe Yitzhar in the West Bank.Credit: Hadar Cohen

Israeli outpost settler Zvi Bar Yosef. He had formerly testified in court that his parents 'met through Rabbi Kahane.'
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Tuesday's incidents come amid rising settler violence in the West Bank and attempts to clear lots for future settlements – and after the U.K. and U.S. each sanctioned four extremist Israeli settlers in unprecedented moves

by Hagar Shezaf, Ben Samuels, and Noa Shpigel for Haaretz
Feb 13, 2024

An Israeli security official reported Tuesday that a group of some 15 Jewish settlers arrived from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar to the village of Asira al-Qibliya, setting a car on fire and attempting to set a building ablaze.

The source added that settlers also threw rocks at Palestinians near the village of Madama, adjacent to the Yitzhar settlement, and that another group of settlers later set vehicles on fire in the West Bank town of Hawara on Monday.

Security officials noted that all of these incidents occurred in the vicinity of the Yitzhar region, causing damage to Palestinian property in all three towns. No arrests of Israeli settlers have been reported as yet, and the police have not issued any statement.

The head of Asira al-Qibliya's city council says that the settlers entered the town from an area where a guard post is situated, and asserted that soldiers must have noticed their arrival but did nothing to stop them. A security camera on a nearby house recorded some of the 15 settlers.

During the attack, the settlers attempted to set fire to a house in which six children and a father, mother, and grandmother were located, the council said. While the house was not set ablaze, it sustained severe damage, and the windows of four other houses and one car were broken.

"This attack was worse than any we've experienced before, there was a large group of settlers, and [the attack] took place in close vicinity to the army and a military post; the army could have stopped them while they were on their way," said the city council head.

The army arrived relatively quickly to Asira al-Qibliya, added the city council head, and opened fire at residents who were attempting to defend their homes. A defense official told Haaretz that security forces employed measures to disperse demonstrations, and the IDF spokesperson has yet to respond to allegations that live fire was used.

Two people were wounded by live fire, according to the council. One of them was hit in the chest and stomach and is hospitalized in a serious condition, and the other was hospitalized in moderate condition after sustaining an injury to his hand.

"Because of all the roadblocks for ambulances on the way from Nablus – which is only a few kilometers from us – it takes them an hour to get to us, so we transport people [to hospital] in private vehicles, and they lose a lot of blood because of it," said the injured individual.

According to the head of Hawara's city council, Mo'en Damidi, the settlers descended upon a part of the town close to an Israeli settlement, where they burned three cars, an excavator, and a trailer. The settlers only left after the army arrived, said Damidi.

In Madama, settlers threw stones at houses in the village, and according to Yesh Din, an Israeli rights organization, some were wearing army and security officials' uniforms and threatened a Palestinian working on an excavator, where he was injured by the settlers' stone-throwing and shooting into the air.

Tuesday's violence comes after Jewish settlers placed six trailer homes in the southern West Bank in early February and cleared lots for future homes.

Unlike similar outposts recently established under the "farm outpost" model, the new outpost, established near the Tekoa settlement, is relatively large and has power lines installed. Defense sources are doubtful that the government will evacuate the outpost, which was built on state-controlled land.

On Monday, the United Kingdom sanctioned four West Bank Israeli settlers who have been implicated in violence against Palestinians, after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order sanctioning four Israeli settlers implicated in violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank on February 1, in what was arguably the most punitive measure ever taken by the U.S. government against Israeli citizens.

The French foreign ministry said on Tuesday it would impose sanctions on 28 Israeli settlers "who are guilty of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank."

The four settlers sanctioned by the U.K. are Moshe Sharvit, Yinon Levy – head of the Havat Meitarim settlement, Zvi Bar Yosef – head of the Havat Zvi settlement – and Ely Federman, who was involved in many incidents against Palestinian shepherds south of Mount Hebron.

The four individuals sanctioned by the U.S. State Department are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levi, all of whom were identified as responsible for actions including leading a riot that involved setting vehicles and buildings on fire, assaulting civilians and causing property damage – which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian – and assaulting and threatening Bedouin civilians.

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