In the West Bank, since October 7, the United Nations has recorded more than 700 settler attacks.
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In Israel, the army announced on Monday April 22 that it had arrested a suspect in the murder of a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd on April 12 while he was grazing his sheep near Ramallah in the West Bank. An assassination which angered the settlers who have since carried out attacks on several villages in the region.
Abou Ali is still in shock, part of his flock of sheep was decimated by an attack on Sunday evening in his village of Burqa, east of Ramallah: “There were about 40 settlers. They were escorted by Israeli soldiers. They started by throwing stones at us. Then they entered the barn. They killed several sheep. Look, there’s one dead here. And then they left with several animals. They acted with complete impunity.”
“There is no justice”
A week earlier, the neighboring village of Beitin was the scene of a raid launched by settlers. His deputy mayor, Abou Mahfouz: “The settlers arrived early in the morning on this bridge, there were between 40 and 50 of them. We defended ourselves. We had no other choice. We reported one death and one injured.” The dead man’s name was Omar, he was 17 years old and had come to help repel this attack. His father, Ahmad, recounts the circumstances of his death: “When the settlers began to evacuate the village, one of them took out his gun and shot my son. He was hit in the head and died. This is what happened. It’s murder. There is no justice.”
Moustafa Barghouti refuses to attribute this renewed tension to any revenge by the Israeli settlers. According to the man who was a candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority to succeed Mahmoud Abbas, this violence is not recent: “This is an excuse more than revenge. Because settler attacks against Palestinians began before October 7 and increased after October 7. 486 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 in the West Bank, including more than of 22 by Israeli settlers The others were killed by the Israeli army which protects and supports the settlers in its attacks against Palestinians.“According to a United Nations tally, since October 7, settlers have launched more than 700 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.