(Nablus) Several foreign activists of the Palestinian cause were attacked and injured on Sunday by masked Israeli settlers in the northern occupied West Bank, on the agricultural lands of Qusra where they were accompanying Palestinians.
In the corridors of the al-Rafidia hospital in Nablus where they were transported by emergency services, at least three people, two women and a man, were treated by medical staff, all with large bruises, an AFP journalist noted.
These volunteers accompanied Palestinians to olive groves near Israeli settlements. Foreign activists regularly escort Palestinians they consider vulnerable in the occupied territories, which are the scene of violence.
“Earlier today (Sunday), a number of masked Israeli civilians attacked a group of foreign nationals who believed they were planting trees in the vicinity of Qusra,” the Israeli army responded when questioned by AFP.
The army said it fired warning shots into the air, causing “Israeli civilians to flee.”
None of them were worried.
PHOTO ZAIN JAAFAR, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Foreign volunteers, some from the United States, receive treatment at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, after they were attacked along with the Palestinians they were helping to work their land by Israeli settlers in the village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, July 21, 2024.
“They came with huge sticks and started hitting us,” an American woman who went by the nickname Vivi told AFP, denouncing an attack “for no reason.”
“They were armed with metal pipes and wooden sticks and were looking for a fight,” added David Hummel, a German member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Mr Hummel reported a jaw injury and pain in his legs and arms.
Hani Odeh, the mayor of Qusra, also confirmed the incident to AFP, adding that the activists had accompanied the farmers to fields “recently set on fire” by settlers.
He spoke of “four wounded” and said the attackers came from the nearby settlement of Esh Kodesh. He said the warning shots were intended to scare away Palestinians and militants.
The latter have been living in Qusra for about a month, according to Mr. Odeh.
Since the creation of ISM, several of its activists have been injured.
The war in the Gaza Strip has generated an intensification of violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where tensions had already been high for two years.
Since October 7, at least 579 Palestinians have been killed there by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to Palestinian authorities. At least 16 Israelis have died in Palestinian attacks or bombings, according to official Israeli figures.
Before the war, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs was already sounding the alarm about “settler violence,” noting that incidents between Palestinians and settlers, towns and villages that are illegal under international law, had never been so numerous since it began keeping count in 2006.