Dozens of settlers, under the protection of the Israeli army, gathered today near the entrance to the town of Jannatah, to the east of Bethlehem, in a provocative manner while raising the Israeli flag, according to local sources.
Sources told WAFA that dozens of settlers gathered near the entrance to the town of Jannatah and raised the Israeli flags amid simmering tensions caused by settlers’ provocative measures and attempts to attack Palestinian residents.
Another group of settlers gathered at the entrance to the illegal settlement of Tekoa in the Bethlehem area and chanted anti-Palestinian and Arab slogans.
Israeli settlers’ vandalism in the occupied West Bank is routine and is done with full backing by the Israeli authorities, said the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
“Settler violence and vandalism take place with full backing by the Israeli authorities. Sometimes soldiers take part in the assault; at other times, they stand idly by. The police make no substantial effort to investigate the incidents, nor takes measures to prevent them or stop them in real-time,” it said.
Israel benefits from the repercussions, as settler violence has gradually dispossessed Palestinians of more and more areas in the West Bank, paving the way for a state takeover of land and resources, said B’Tselem.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)