JERUSALEM — Israeli settlers on Tuesday mounted another attack in the West Bank village of Tayasir, days after a CNN team covering the establishment of an illegal settler outpost were detained and assaulted by Israeli soldiers.
At least four Palestinians were injured in the latest attack, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Eyewitnesses said Israeli settlers set fire to homes, farming sheds and vehicles.
Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, already at unprecedented levels over the last three years, has reached a new zenith since the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran at the end of February.
Civil rights groups and activists have reported extremely high rates of Jewish extremist attacks since war broke out, with multiple incidents of assault, vandalism, theft, and harassment occurring daily.
Videos obtained by CNN show several cars and sheds engulfed in flames, with a thick plume of black smoke billowing and filling the air.
One video of the village hills shows several vehicles and tents in flames with rising columns of dark smoke. Images of the aftermath also show cars and vehicles charred and burned.
According to community leader and eyewitness Amer Dabak, the Israeli military responded to the incident by arriving in Tayasir and preventing the fire brigade, ambulances and residents from reaching the area.
“They prevented residents from returning to their homes but allowed the settlers to do everything at their leisure,” he added.
Settlers had already stormed the community five days earlier, beating multiple residents and creating an illegal outpost in the village. CNN witnessed Israeli troops standing idly by the new outpost before detaining multiple Palestinians and the CNN crew instead.
Tayasir residents said Israeli forces dismantled the outpost the next day, but that it was erected again by settlers in another location in the village.
The rebuilt outpost – which is illegal under Israeli and international law – has yet to be dismantled by Israeli authorities.
Israeli authorities have acknowledged the return of settlers to the area. “An additional evacuation will be carried out in accordance with operational priorities and subject to approval by the political echelon,” Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in response to a query from CNN.
CNN’s report generated significant attention in Israeli media and ignited a debate in Israeli society. The Israeli military chief of staff has since suspended the relevant battalion from operational activity, dismissed one soldier who spoke of “revenge” against Palestinians and reprimanded several commanders.
But several Israeli officials, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, condemned the suspension, and 31 right-wing lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition wrote a letter Tuesday, demanding the battalion be redeployed.
“The dismissal of an entire battalion from active duty, even if only in a temporary manner due to an article on CNN, undermines the trust required among the military system and among the reservists at a time when we need them more than ever,” the lawmakers wrote.
Meanwhile, broader accountability for Israeli soldiers’ role in supporting settlers and concrete action against rampant Israeli settler violence remains lacking.
No one has been arrested for the brutal beating of 75-year-old Abdullah Daraghmeh, who was attacked in his home during the settlers’ early morning raid last week.
Daraghmeh’s wife Amna suffered a heart attack and died on Tuesday, according to their son Sami, who said she had been mentally and physically affected by the attack on her husband. — Agencies
Source: Saudi Gazette