Jerusalem, March 22 (EFE).- The occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank has experienced an especially violent night at the hands of groups of settlers, who attacked villages and injured people near Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin, incited after the death of an 18-year-old Israeli settler in what appears to be a car accident.
Around one in the morning this Sunday, six Palestinians were injured by settler beatings in several villages in Jenin, and five of them had to be taken to hospital, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent in a statement.
In addition, three other young Palestinians were injured with bruises after being attacked by settlers who threw stones at their vehicle west of Salfit, a city located near Ramallah and the large Jewish settlement of Ariel, local sources reported to the Palestinian agency Wafa.
In turn, at least three people were injured by Israeli settler militias in an attack against the village of Jalud, southeast of Nablus, during which four vehicles as well as a medical clinic were set on fire, a local activist, Bashar Qaryuti, told EFE.
In a related incident, the sources indicated that a group of settlers also attacked civilians in the nearby village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, the same one where on March 2 two Palestinian brothers were shot dead by uniformed settlers while defending their home.
In Qaryut, as this same activist confirmed to EFE, groups of Palestinians confronted the attackers, but he says that it is no longer possible to stop them.
“Our limited resources – sticks and stones – are insufficient against the weapons and equipment used by these criminals, who have the direct support of the (Israeli) army. The situation is more dangerous than expected. The security committees are no longer viable,” Qaryuti explained.
These attacks come after yesterday an 18-year-old settler, Yehuda Shmuel Sherman, died in the West Bank in an alleged accident in which the SUV in which he was traveling collided with the car of a Palestinian driver, presumably from the Palestinian town of Beit Imrin, according to police.
The police and the Army are investigating whether the incident could have been an attack; a version of what happened that Israeli politicians from the supremacist branch of religious Zionism already spread as true last night.
The Minister of Finance and fellow settler, Bezalel Smotrich, published last night on
The vice president of the Knesset (Parliament), the far-right Limor Sonhrmelh, of the Jewish Power party, reiterated in X that this death was not an accident. “We are waging a fight for the land against a cruel enemy who wants Israel’s name to be forgotten. But alongside the pain and sadness, we must make it clear that we will not accept a cover-up of what happened. This was not an accident, but a car bomb attack deliberately perpetrated against Jews.”
For his part, the Minister of National Security, also a settler and president of Poder Judío, Itamar Ben Gvir, expressed “great pain for the murder” of the young man and warned: “We will continue clinging to the land, building and continuing our path.” EFE