Photo credit: Omar Shusheim/Standing Together
On Friday 24 July, settlers carried out a violent raid on Palestinian homes in Tal, near Nablus. Four Palestinians were killed, with two Israeli settlers also dying in retaliatory clashes. A week previously, settlers had set fire to a home in Tal with residents inside.
This kind of pogrom is increasingly typical across the West Bank, as armed settlers, abetted by the state, seek to impose a regime of Israeli-Jewish supremacy across the territory, and force Palestinians from their homes.
In response to the events in Tal, the Israeli military launched an operation that led to almost 50 arrests — not of violent settlers, but of Palestinians. Around 70 Palestinians homes were raided.
The raids sparked protests within Israel. On Saturday 25 July, the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, known by its Hebrew acronym Hadash, held a protest in Tel Aviv. Nine people were arrested. Hadash MK Ofer Cassif told The New Arab: "We organised the Tel Aviv demonstration because we refuse to remain silent while state-sanctioned settler terror and government escalation ignite the occupied West Bank [...] The police have increasingly become a politicised militia that shields violent settlers while using brutal force to silence peaceful citizens protesting for human rights. The arrest of nine demonstrators in Tel Aviv is a blatant attempt to criminalise dissent and protect government-backed extremism.
"Mainstream political and media discourse continues to whitewash state aggression. However, video evidence makes it harder to deny the truth. A growing, courageous joint Jewish-Arab camp realises that settler violence is not a 'fringe issue' — it is a core tool of state policy designed to dispossess Palestinians."
On 28 July, a coalition of anti-occupation organisations led by Standing Together organised a further protest against settler violence. Standing Together said: "We didn’t take to the streets just because of settler violence — we were also protesting against our extremist government that backs and funds this terror.
"Not only does it make daily life for many Palestinians in the West Bank unbearable, but it makes every single one of us less safe and threatens our future. There can never be peace when our government depends on inciting endlessly against Palestinians and encouraging more and more violence across the land to stay in power.
"That’s why our protest was so powerful. It proved that our struggle against this terrifying reality is growing, that people will not accept this as fate, that they’ll fight for peace, equality, and justice because they know it’s the only way."
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