Israeli settlers attack foreign activists and Palestinian farmers in the West Bank | CNN

Jerusalem
CNN
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Masked Israeli civilians attacked a group of Palestinian farmers and foreign activists accompanying them for protection in the West Bank town of Qusra on Sunday, according to victims of the attack and videos obtained by CNN.

The eight activists were participating as part of a Palestinian campaign called Defend Palestine, which calls for international volunteers to travel to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to protect Palestinians from attacks by Israeli settlers.

Two Americans and a German citizen were taken to hospital with suspected fractures after the attack, the campaign said, adding that an American volunteer suffered minor injuries. One of the Palestinian farmers was hospitalized.

The three foreign victims, Vivi Chen, David Hummel, and Jedda, who declined to give her last name, spoke to CNN about the attack from a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus, where they when they received treatment.

They say they are accompanying Palestinian farmers to their olive fields, which they have not been able to reach since October due to attacks by Israeli settlers. At one point, the group was approached by several youths living on the hill.

“They stood there for a while and then they came to our group of international volunteers and started beating us with these thick wooden sticks almost like baseball bats,” Chen said.

Videos recorded by the activists show them trying to retreat when they were attacked. One of them immediately falls to the ground, another tries to defend himself with his hands while being hit, and at least one is kicked in the leg and hit with a carved rock by the attacker.

A woman fell down the hill and was also hit by a rock. The aliens then “damaged his phone and he lost his documents and cards,” Chen told CNN.

“We weren’t doing anything,” Hummel said. “Our hands were up and we were supporting and trying to protect each other. So in the end, we tried to go back because we had been hit so many times.”

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war and soon began settling Jews in the land. There are currently over 700,000 Jewish immigrants in the West Bank. However, the international community considers the area to be occupied and Israeli settlements there illegal. The Palestinians want the area for a future independent state.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court, said Friday that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, in an unprecedented opinion called Israel to finish its work. It called on Israel to stop the new settlement process, remove the settlers and make reparations for the damage caused.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged the attack on Sunday, saying in a brief statement to CNN that “several Israeli civilians attacked a group of foreign citizens while plant trees in that place.”

The IDF said it condemned any acts of violence, and added that its troops had been sent to the area and that it would work to maintain security in what it considers its territory. It also said that soldiers were dispatched to the area and fired in the air, causing the attackers to flee.

But the activists said that when the soldiers arrived, they immediately pointed their guns at a Palestinian man who was accompanying the volunteers and opened fire on him.

“He was our friend and everyone was shouting, ‘No, no! He is our friend, he is our friend!’ And they shot him with live bullets,” the activists said. The IDF did not respond to CNN’s inquiry about the alleged target of the Palestinian volunteer.

The wounded attackers were taken to Nablus hospital for treatment by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Pictures taken from the hospital showed the victims with many cuts and bruises on their bodies. The face of Hummel, the German opponent, was very swollen on the right side.

Mohammed Khatib, organizer of the Defend Palestine campaign, said: “The attack today, not even 24 hours after the ICJ ruled that Israel’s occupation is illegal and that settlers enjoy impunity use violence, is further proof of the strong international need for public security in Palestine.”

Chen said the group did not expect to encounter violence but was “aware of settler violence” against Palestinians.

“Our risks are very small compared to what the Palestinians face every day,” he said.

Sunday’s attack followed a separate attack on Saturday in the West Bank, south of Hebron. A video obtained by CNN shows Israeli settlers attacking a Palestinian family with sticks and knocking some of them to the ground before a soldier fires a warning signal and the video ends.