The month of May saw an increase in settler violence in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood, where Palestinians live in close proximity to aggressive, ideological Israeli Jewish settlers.
On 9 May, a Palestinian mother and her two children from the Abu Shamsiyeh family were on their way to go shopping. Settlers attacked one of her children. A Palestinian man pushed the settlers away from the crying child, which infuriated the settlers. When Israeli soldiers did not arrest the Palestinian man, the settlers started harassing people and attacked a Palestinian woman trying to film the incident. The settlers continued spitting at and pushing the Palestinians for over an hour. Israeli soldiers responded by preventing Palestinians from going to their homes, including the Abu Shamsiyeh family when they returned from shopping.
On 16 May, a group of settlers attacked the Abu Aisha family. Settlers told the police that 19-year-old Ashraf grabbed a pipe and was going to hit them, when in fact, it was the settlers who hit Ashraf with the pipe. Soldiers witnessed the settlers attacking the Abu Eisha family, but they arrested Ashraf.On 17 May, settlers attacked Mervat Abu Eisha and pushed his wife so hard that she suffered significant blood loss.
On 23 May, settlers in Tel Rumeida attacked the Azzeh family. In the morning, settlers parked a vehicle in front of the family’s house blocking the entrance. Later, settler children aged ten to twelve threw stones at the family and international volunteers. The daughter was hit and while she was showing footage of the incident to soldiers, they accused her of throwing stones. They were about to arrest her when settlers again started throwing stones at the family’s home. The soldiers left to “check” and never returned. They did not so much as reprimand the settlers, much less arrest them for stone throwing.
This settler violence in Tel Rumeida has increased under the most right-wing coalition government in the history of the modern nation state of Israel. Settlers have acted with impunity since the settlement project began. Your support helps the people of Tel Rumeida know they are not facing this violence alone.
