Settler violence ratchets up tensions in West Bank

The smell of burned tires and torched cars still lingers in Hawara, a Palestinian town in the center of the Israel-occupied West Bank. The route connecting the north and south of the occupied West Bank, Hawara's usually bustling main street, was almost deserted. Shops and businesses remained closed earlier this week, as some Israeli soldiers positioned themselves along the road.

Sunday's unprecedented rampage was triggered by the killing of two brothers from the nearby Jewish settlement of Har Bracha. The alleged Palestinian gunman shot Hillel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, several times at point-blank range before fleeing the scene. 

That same day, a mob of Israeli settlers descended on the Palestinian town, burning houses, vandalizing storefronts and torching cars.

Several days later, Sabi Shaban ventured out to check on his family business on Hawara's main street. Friends and neighbors had gathered by his electronics appliance shop, many still shaken by the violent rampage. "It all started on Sunday afternoon, when the settlers came to the roundabout, escorted by the army," Shaban told DW. "It became a huge scene of destruction, fire, violence."

Next to his shop, the vehicles in a used car lot are entirely burned out. The exterior of the building is blackened as a result of fire. "We feel we need to be protected, but we are not protected at all," said the 29-year-old who lives in nearby Nablus. "They harmed people, cars, the environment, animals — they even destroyed the flowers in the pots over there."

Angered settlers rally to take revenge

The settlers had called a rally to revenge the killing of the two Israeli men earlier that day. Israeli commentators and media accused the Israeli military, the occupying force in the West Bank, of having failed to contain the outbreak of vandalism and arson for hours.

On Tuesday, Major General Yehuda Fuchs, Central Command chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), issued a shared comment stating that "this event in Hawara is a pogrom that was done by outlaws." He added that the army had not been prepared "for that amount of people and the way they arrived, to the extent and the intensity of the violence they demonstrated, and the organization they carried out. This is a bad incident that was not meant to happen."

During the attack, a 37-year-old Palestinian man, Sameh Aqtash, from the village of Zaatara died after being shot in the stomach. According to Palestinian health services, more than 350 Palestinians were injured.

Spiral of violence

On Monday, a 27-year-old Israeli-American was killed in a drive-by shooting by alleged Palestinian attackers in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, further deepening the spiral of violence.

These incidents have severely exacerbated the tense atmosphere prevailing in the region in recent months. Over 60 Palestinians and at least 13 Israelis have been killed since January, mostly amidst increasing military raids by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, or by Palestinian attacks.

Extremist settler violence on the rise

Settler violence in the occupied West Bank is not a new phenomenon. The settlements and outposts near the Palestinian village of Hawara and the city of Nablus are arguably home to some of the most hardline and dogmatic Israeli settlers.

Some 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem. These settlements are seen as illegal by most of the international community, as well as a major obstacle to any prospect of a two-state solution. Nevertheless, Israel's current far-right government has made settlement expansion a priority.

According to reports by several human rights groups, incidents of extremist settlers violently attacking Palestinian civilians — including burning crops, beating villagers and vandalizing property — have been on the rise. A report recently released by the US State Department states that "multiple sources reported a substantial rise in such attacks during 2021," and that they had expanded in "severity and scale."

Herzi Halevi, Chief of General Staff of the IDF said that the "violent riots" would be "thoroughly investigated." On Wednesday, Israeli police issued a statement that they had detained six further settler suspects.

Concern over what comes next

Many Palestinians are concerned that Israel's current far-right pro-settler government is encouraging an atmosphere of impunity. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement on Sunday evening calling on people to not "take the law into their own hands," a far-right member of his coalition openly expressed support for the rioters.

In Hawara, people are wondering what's next. "There is definitely a deterioration, I don't feel secure, the situation is not stable," Ziad Domedi, a Palestinian who lives with his family in a newly furbished house just off the main road, told DW.

Domedi recalled the events of Sunday evening. As more and more settlers joined the mob, some attempted to break into his family's home. "When they couldn't open the door, they set tires on fire in front of it. I could hear people outside shouting 'they are burning the house'," the 48-year-old father of four recounted. "I felt that if I go out, I'll be dying. If I stay, we will be suffocating from the smoke. It was horrifying, for my kids, for me, for all of us. Just horrifying."

Calls for 'restoring calm' ineffective

The recent escalation has been condemned by the European Union, the United Nations and the US administration. On Tuesday, Hady Amr, the US special representative for Palestinian affairs, visited Hawara and "expressed his deepest condolences and condemned the unacceptable wide-scale, indiscriminate violence by settlers," as the US Office of Palestinian Affairs said in a tweet.

The office added: "We want to see full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these heinous attacks and compensation for those who lost property or were otherwise affected."

On Sunday, prior to this most recent escalation, the US administration had helped mediate a high-level meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials to adopt measures that would de-escalate tensions.

Edited by: Lucy James