On Sunday evening Israeli settlers stormed the town of Hawara, near the West Bank city of Nablus, burning down Palestinian homes, vehicles, killing one and injuring hundreds. The attack has been labelled as a pogrom, which was backed by the Israeli military.
Around 64 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured, so far this year, in what is shaping up to be the most violent year for the West Bank since the Second Intifada. At this rate, the death toll may even top last year, the deadliest since 2005 according to the United Nations. The situation is so volatile that the director of the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has warned of a Third Intifada (uprising) by the Palestinian people.
Last Wednesday, Israeli occupation forces launched a violent invasion of the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, resulting in the murder of 11 Palestinians and the injury of over 100. On Sunday, an unidentified Palestinian gunman, reportedly armed with a 9mm pistol, launched a revenge attack against two illegal Israeli settlers, shooting both dead inside their car, whilst they were passing through the area known as Hawara. There was no indication that the Palestinian who shot the two settlers was from Hawara and it appears that the shooter had fled far from the location. Hawara is a Palestinian town located close to Nablus and is situated nearby an illegal Israeli settlement, so settlers will often pass through the area.
After the two settlers were killed, fanatical Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar illegal settlement put out calls for a revenge march in Hawara, scheduled for 6pm that night. It was planned to be a violent incursion, during which settlers would have a carte blanch to attack anyone, or thing, they chose, whilst receiving protection from the Israeli army. As planned, the settlers showed up in gangs of hundreds and began attacking everything in site that belongs to Palestinians.
The chaos raged on for hours, as Palestinians were left completely defenseless to the onslaught of the armed and violent racist mob attack. In total, around 100 vehicles were set alight, 35 homes were completely burned down and 40 other homes were damaged by the arson attacks of the settlers. Reports emerged that the settlers were throwing molotov cocktails into Palestinian homes, blocking the exits and when the families would flee, they would hit them with poles and sticks. Screams of helpless families were heard by local residents, as they made the difficult decision to flee their homes with their small children, knowing that settler mobs were outside waiting for them. The attacks then spread to three other villages, where settlers and soldiers attacked unarmed Palestinians, including medical workers.
According to a data summary provided by PRCS, who were responsible for the emergency response operations, this is what they dealt with: In the Zaatara area there was a Palestinian man, 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash, who was shot dead, in addition to another live ammunition injury and 20 from tear gas fire. In Hawara, one man was admitted to Ibn Sina Emergency Centre after suffering multiple stab wounds, in addition to another who was beaten in the head with hard metal tools, three others were severely assaulted and 342 were treated for either smoke or tear gas inhalation. In Beit Furik, there were 10 injuries reported and in Bourin village there was 16 injuries, one of which was caused by a physical attack. In addition to this, five violations were recorded against medical teams, from both settlers and soldiers, including smashing the windows of ambulances. Israeli occupation forces blocked the entry of paramedics into the Hawara area on a number of occasions. A fire truck, attempting to put out the various house fires, from arson assaults, was attacked and damaged by settlers also.
As usual, Israeli settlers were not punished for their racist mob attack, instead they received support from an Israeli government official, the National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who visited Hawara, under the protection of tens of vehicles filled with military and private-security personnel. The following day, Zvika Fogel, an Israeli member of Knesset for the second most powerful party in the government, Religious Zionism, stated that the results of the attack on Hawara were “beautiful” and that “I want to see the place burn”, arguing that the settler violence was the greatest “deterrence” achievement since the Israeli military’s ‘Operation Defensive Shield’ in 2002.
Lightly worded international condemnation naturally followed the horrifying assault, which mirrored a Ku Klux Klan style attack. Despite the Israeli government actively using its army to support such action by their armed and fanatical settlers, no threats were made against Israel for allowing this to happen. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority (PA) used its security forces to prevent Palestinians from retaliating to the settler mob attacks, after having sent a delegation to Aqaba in Jordan, to participate in a meeting with Israeli and American officials to work on combating Palestinian armed groups that have formed in the northern West Bank to fight the Israeli occupation.
