Israel War: Palestinian communities claim that they are being violently harassed | Oneindia News
Palestinian communities claim that they are being violently harassed and intimidated by Israeli settlers to leave their homes in the occupied territory. In the eyes of the settlers, Palestinians are "squatters" without Israeli building permits. DW's Aya Ibrahim speaks with a Palestinian mother who lives with her family in Susya. Warning: this report includes disturbing images from the start.
#Israel #Hamas #IsraelHamasWar #IsraelVSPalestine #Palestinians #PalestiniansHarrassed #PalestinianCommunities
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#Israel #Hamas #IsraelHamasWar #IsraelVSPalestine #Palestinians #PalestiniansHarrassed #PalestinianCommunities
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NewsTranscript
00:00 A heated altercation in the occupied West Bank.
00:05 An Israeli settler on the right in the red t-shirt walks up to a Palestinian and shoots
00:10 him.
00:12 A soldier simply escorts the shooter away.
00:19 Settler violence here is nothing new.
00:22 But Palestinian villagers say that since the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel,
00:28 settler violence seems more aimed at driving them from their homes.
00:35 Since the war began, they've come to us every night.
00:37 One time they dragged my husband for 50 meters along the ground.
00:41 They beat him very hard.
00:44 They told him you have 24 hours to leave.
00:47 If we come back and find you here, we'll shoot you.
00:50 They told us to take all of this down ourselves.
00:52 They said we had to demolish our own home.
00:58 Syria is hot.
00:59 It's windy.
01:00 It's terrain is tough.
01:02 But for Halima's family, it's home.
01:06 A home that now hardly has any water.
01:10 Villagers say settlers destroyed most of Susi as wells and blocked the entrance to the village
01:15 with boulders.
01:17 Yet they refused to go.
01:20 In another part of the occupied West Bank, the intimidation has worked.
01:25 This video shows the people of Wadi Sikh leaving land they'd lived on for decades to escape
01:30 repeated harassment by settlers.
01:35 Within a month of the Hamas attacks, the UN says at least 15 communities like this have
01:39 had to move.
01:41 Settlers killed eight Palestinians in the West Bank during the seven weeks after October
01:46 7th.
01:47 Even as they were packing up, these three men from Wadi Sikh were reportedly attacked
01:53 and humiliated.
01:55 Ali Mohammed Arara is one of those that say they had to flee Wadi Sikh with his family.
02:01 We left against our will.
02:02 We didn't leave just like that.
02:04 We left under fire because of the beatings.
02:08 In a written statement to DW, the IDF said its soldiers had a duty to protect Palestinians
02:13 against violence.
02:14 If they fail to intervene in cases of attack, they could face disciplinary action.
02:22 Some half a million Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank.
02:27 The settlements are considered illegal under international law, but they continue to grow
02:32 with the support of consecutive Israeli governments.
02:37 A pro-settler NGO co-founded by Israel's current far-right finance minister arranged a tour
02:42 of the South Hebron hills for journalists from around the world.
02:47 The aim?
02:48 To dispel "fake news" about recent reports of settler violence.
03:03 We stop in Khirbet Zanuta, one of the villages both the UN and Israeli human rights group
03:08 B'Tselem say has been vacated due to settler violence.
03:12 When the war broke out, they packed all their stuff onto trucks and moved, knowing that
03:18 with the massive Israeli army presence here now and the possibility that the law would
03:23 actually be enforced, this was not a very favorable place to be.
03:27 They picked up all their stuff and relocated, which is what Bedouins do.
03:31 They're nomads, right?
03:33 This is one example of the 26, 21 or 26 points in the B'Tselem report that is the basis for
03:40 President Biden's accusations of settler violence.
03:44 The vast majority are like this.
03:47 Never any violence.
03:48 So you're saying there is no settler violence, just people just up and left?
03:51 Correct.
03:52 100% correct.
03:53 To the settlers, Palestinians are quote "squatters" as their homes lack Israeli building permits.
04:02 The settlers say they are the ones under threat.
04:06 Palestinians killed four Israelis in the West Bank during the seven weeks after October
04:10 7.
04:12 To the settlers, reports of increased settler violence are nothing but an attempt to undermine
04:16 their community, the military that protects them and the government that backs them.
04:26 Just a 15 minute drive away, we're back in Susia.
04:31 To Halima, the threat feels very real.
04:35 She sleeps with her girls here, on this trailer.
04:39 Not because it can move, but so she can better see and hear if attackers come.
04:44 I ask her what she wishes for.
04:47 I wish for safety and security.
04:51 I just want to have a stable life.
04:53 My daughters are growing up and they need a room of their own.
04:59 A room of their own right here.
05:02 Not such a simple wish in this land that is so bitterly fought over.
05:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]