Jewish settlers assaulted Palestinian shepherds in the Khillet Makhoul area, in northern Jordan Valley, on Tuesday, for the second day in a row, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Aref Daraghmeh, a human rights advocate, told WAFA that illegal Jewish settlers have been chasing Palestinian shepherds since the early morning hours, noting that they sprayed one of them with pepper as they kicked them out of the pastures.
Extremist Israeli settlers assault, chase Palestinian shepherds in Jordan Valley https://t.co/Oi9vbwNGEk
— Joe Catron (@jncatron) October 5, 2021
Palestinian shepherds are continuously targeted by Jewish settlers, who aim to forcibly evict them in favor of settlement expansion.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
“Jewish settler violence should not be analyzed separately from the violence meted out by the Israeli army, but seen within the larger context of the violent Zionist ideology that governs Israeli society entirely,” wrote Palestinian author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, Ramzy Baroud.
Activists in the northern Jordan Valley protest the seizure of local land for an illegal settlement outpost, which are often established by illegal Israeli settlers to start large-scale land seizures nearby. Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas at the protest. pic.twitter.com/rqFgETpJsD
— ISM Palestine (@ISMPalestine) June 13, 2021
“Settler violence has long since become part of Palestinians’ daily life under occupation,” according to the Human Rights Group B’tselem. “Israeli security forces enable these actions, which result in Palestinian casualties – injuries and fatalities – as well as damage to land and property. In some cases, they even serve as an armed escort, or even join in the attacks”.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
(The Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
