A week after attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, four settlers were arrested and placed in administrative detention. This controversial measure allows Israel to detain suspects without charge or trial. It most often targets Palestinians, but very rarely Israelis.
From our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sami Boukhelifa
After years of inaction, the Israeli army seems to realize the danger posed by these violent settlers. The Chief of Staff says: Any soldier who sees an Israeli citizen throwing a firebomb at a Palestinian house, and stands idly by, is not fit to be a soldier. “.
Yet this same army has always been at the service of these settlers », regrets Breaking The Silence, an Israeli NGO of military veterans opposed to the occupation. ” The unleashing of settler violence is the result of this connivance », Considers this same NGO.
Since the beginning of the year, the settlers, often armed, have increased their abuses. Punitive expeditions, described as “pogroms” by Israeli human rights organizations.
Settlers attack Palestinian villages indiscriminately. They burn, destroy, ransack everything in their path: houses, cars, crops. They also open fire, killing innocent Palestinians. To “revenge”, they say, following attacks perpetrated by other Palestinians.
The four arrested settlers can remain in administrative detention for up to six months, but this duration can be renewed indefinitely.
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