[News] Israeli settlers continue raids in the occupied West Bank despite Iran attacks

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/settlers-continue-attacks-west-bank>


  Israeli settlers continue raids in the occupied West Bank despite Iran
  attacks

Fayha Shalash
June 17, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israeli <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel>settler groups 
have continued their attacks on Palestinian 
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine>property in the 
occupied West Bank even as Israel entered a state of emergency over 
ongoing Iranian attacks.

Palestinian sources reported that settlers attacked Palestinian property 
and set fires near Ramallah, Nablus and Qalqilya.

In al-Mazra'a al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, settlers vandalised and set 
fire to Palestinian property on Saturday evening.

One group of settlers attacked an industrial facility in the town and 
smashed the windshield of a vehicle.

Abdel Samad Abdel Aziz, the owner of the facility, told Middle East Eye 
that 70 settlers had attacked the stone factory with the intention of 
destroying it, and the townspeople gathered to confront them.

"When we went to the factory, we found the settlers had set fire to the 
existing vehicles and mobile rooms," he explained.

"They were all armed, and we tried to confront them, unarmed."

The settlers attacked the townspeople with sticks and stones while the 
Israeli army was still present and did nothing to disperse the settlers.

The industrial zone in which the factory is located employs 800 
Palestinian workers and is worth $200m to the local economy.

    'They were all armed, and we tried to confront them, unarmed'

    /- Abdel Samad Abdel Aziz/

"The settlers' goal is to undermine the Palestinian economy in the 
eastern part of Ramallah, which is concentrated in our town," said Abdul 
Aziz.

"This area includes two cement and brick factories, 11 stone factories, 
and several blacksmith and carpentry workshops that serve tens of 
thousands of Palestinians."

Abdul Aziz and his brothers, who own several factories, hold American 
citizenship, but this was ignored by the Israeli army and the settlers, 
he said.

The settlers then attempted to burn down several homes in the town, but 
residents continued to confront them and defend their property.

The Israeli army, however, intercepted and attacked the Palestinians.

"They don't want quiet, they want constant problems. They even destroyed 
the olive trees on the sides of the road. Everything in their ideology 
is terrorism," he added.


      Sporadic attacks

Settler attacks have not ceased despite the declaration of a state of 
emergency following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran.

The Israeli army has imposed a complete closure on the West Bank, 
preventing Palestinians from moving freely.

Settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones on Monday on 
al-Mu'arrajat Road, northwest of Jericho, and uttered provocative 
language, disrupting traffic and forcing several vehicles to turn back 
and take other routes.

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Another group dismantled a tin house belonging to a Palestinian in the 
neighbouring village of
Arab al-Malihat, which had been inhabited by a family displaced during 
the previous attack on
the Arab al-Kaabneh Elementary School in the village a few months earlier.

A settler demolished an agricultural room in Kafr ad-Dik, west of 
Salfit, with a bulldozer on Monday morning, claiming it lacked a permit. 
The operation was carried out with full protection from the Israeli army.

For several days, a group of armed settlers has been carrying out 
extensive land levelling operations on Palestinian land in the village 
of Yasuf, east of Salfit.

Since the inauguration of the current Israeli government in 2022, 
settlers have escalated their attacks and assaults against Palestinians, 
with direct government support and instructions from far-right ministers 
Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

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