Israeli settler attack on West Bank town leaves 40 homes burned, injured civilians

By Awad Rjoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Israeli settlers continued an attack, which began early Friday, on the town of Al-Mughayyir in the eastern city of Ramallah in the central West Bank, said Palestinian factions.

The attack has resulted in the killing of a young man and injuries to dozens of Palestinians, as well as the burning of more than 40 houses.

Palestinian factions have warned of the consequences of the attacks on Palestinian towns in the West Bank and have urged a general mobilization and resistance, demanding the international community “impose a comprehensive boycott and sanctions on all settlements and settlers.”

Separate statements by Hamas, Fatah and the National Initiative were in response to attacks on the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Deir Abu Falah, and the town of Duma, in central and northern West Bank.

“While the Zionist occupation army continues its genocidal war against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the fascist terrorist government allows gangs of settlers to attack Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank,” said Hamas. “Today's attack by settler militias on the town of Al-Mughayyir resulted in the martyrdom of a Palestinian citizen, the injury of dozens, the burning of several homes and vehicles of citizens, and the sabotage of their properties.”

"These organized and escalating attacks, carried out under the protection of the Zionist army and under the direct guidance of the extremist settler government ministers, fall within the context of the fervent occupation's pursuit to seize more lands of the West Bank, to Judaize them, and to expel their owners under the intimidation, killing, massacres, and international laxity in stopping these ongoing crimes,” it said.

Hamas demanded that the international community and the UN “fulfill their responsibilities and take urgent action to stop the crimes and violations against our people in the occupied West Bank by the occupation army and its settler militias.”

It urged people and youth in the occupied West Bank to “rise up and confront the fascist settler terrorism, and to continue to clash with this enemy that only understands the language of power.”

Fatah issued a statement by the Commission of Information, Culture, and Intellectual Mobilization, that said, “These attacks … are carried out in collusion with the occupation army and its police.”

It also called for “general mobilization and resistance against the settlers' aggression on the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.”

The statement said, “The savage aggression of settlers in collusion with the occupation army on the village of Al-Mughayyir coincides with the ongoing aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”

It further stated that this “confirms the escalation intentions of the extremist occupation government, which seeks through these heinous massacres to implement its genocidal plans against our eternal people.”

It said that “individual sanctions are not an effective deterrent to settlers who are openly armed by the extremist occupation government.”

It said, “International silence and contentment with paper condemnations will lead to developments with dire consequences, due to the continued aggression of the occupation and its settlers, in Gaza, the West Bank, and the region as a whole.”

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, said in a statement received by Anadolu, that “Israeli criminal settlers are committing a brutal massacre in the village of Al-Mughayyir.”

He added that “1,500 Israeli settlers protected and participated with the Israeli army in the attack on the village of Al-Mughayyir.”

“They fired live ammunition at unarmed civilians, leading to the martyrdom of the young man Jihad Abu Aliya and the injury of at least 35 Palestinians with live ammunition, two of whom are in critical condition as reported by medical relief workers and the Red Crescent.”

Barghouti said settlers “burned at least 40 houses and several facilities in the village and continue to attack the village in a manner similar to the settlers' attack on the town of Huwara in the past.”

Earlier last year, settlers attacked homes in the town of Huwara, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, fired live ammunition and set fire to vehicles belonging to residents, injuring several Palestinians.

“The international community's silence on Israeli crimes encourages settlers to carry out planned and organized attacks against the people of the West Bank, under the leadership and encouragement of fascist settler ministers,” said Barghouti.

He also called on “the international community to impose a comprehensive boycott and sanctions on all settlements and settlers, not just a handful of them.”

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said earlier Friday, that was reported by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, that the “attacks and crimes by terrorist settler militias are nothing but a result of the continued genocide war waged by the Israeli occupation state against our people, their sanctities, and properties.”

He warned of the danger of their continued crimes “with support and protection from the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, as happened today in the village of Al-Mughayyir.”

He held “the occupation government fully responsible for these crimes” and the US administration “responsible for this escalation.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a Palestinian was killed and 25 injured in an attack by settlers and the Israeli army on Al-Mughayyir.

Amin Abu Aliya, the head of the village council of Al-Mughayyir, told Anadolu: “Settlers are invading and burning homes and firing heavily at civilians, resulting in dozens of injuries.”

“The occupation army is supporting the settlers, closing the village, and preventing the evacuation of the wounded,” he said.

In the neighboring village of Deir Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, WAFA reported that “4 citizens were injured in various attacks by armed settlers at the entrance to the village, during which they also burned several vehicles.”

In another incident, it said that “dozens of settlers attacked the homes of citizens in the western side of the town of Duma, south of Nablus.”

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala