Israel failed to prevent settler attacks on Palestinians, US report says

March 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United States has accused Israel of failing to prevent settler attacks on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, according to a 2021 State Department terrorism report.

“Israeli security personnel often failed to prevent settler attacks and rarely detained or charged the perpetrators of settler violence,” the document reads.

Israeli settlers living in the West Bank have committed a variety of physical attacks, property damage and “nationalist” crimes against Palestinians, according to the report. Likewise, some Israeli NGOs have denounced the presence of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during some attacks.

Thus, data from the United Nations, as well as Israeli Human Rights organizations and the media, have registered a substantial increase in such attacks during 2021 –the year in which the study of this investigation is framed–, reporting 496 settler attacks Iraqis against Palestinians, compared to 358 documented attacks in 2020.

“Human rights groups and residents of the West Bank have reported that settler attacks over the past year have also increased in severity and scale, whereas in previous years groups of four or five settlers used to carry out sporadic attacks,” the document reads.

Furthermore, the attacks have been more destructive and have spread to other parts of the West Bank. “Such incidents have generated great concern among parts of the Israeli security establishment and a number of public condemnations of government officials,” the report continues.

The report was scheduled to be released well in advance, yet it has come to light a day after hundreds of settlers stormed the West Bank town of Huwara, killing one Palestinian, injuring several dozen people and burning houses. and cars.