(C) Common Dreams
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After Settler Attacks, a Palestinian Town Fears for Its Survival [1]
['Raja Abdulrahim', 'More About Raja Abdulrahim']
Date: 2023-04-19
From Jan. 1 to March 13, the United Nations recorded 219 settler-related attacks that led to four Palestinian deaths as well as injuries or damage to Palestinian property, more than twice the number in the same period last year. Israeli forces killed more than 70 Palestinians in the West Bank over that period.
Attacks by Palestinians on settlers have also more than doubled in that period, with 20 this year, resulting in the deaths of 12 settlers and one foreigner, the United Nations said.
The Israeli government has promised more support for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which most of the world considers illegal under international law but which have steadily expanded over the past 40 years. Mr. Smotrich, the finance minister who called for Huwara to be erased, is among the leaders of the Israeli government who support ultimately annexing all of the West Bank, believing that every part of Israel and the occupied territories was promised to Jews by God.
The International Criminal Court classifies the act of an occupying power transferring its own population into occupied land as a war crime. Palestinians say the repeated attacks by settlers are aimed at driving them off their land.
In 2021, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank was more than 465,000, according to Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlement activity. That compares with a little more than 200,000 in 2001.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/world/middleeast/west-bank-settler-attacks.html
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