Repeated Attacks and an Absent, Oblivious Authority
The News:
Dozens of Palestinians were injured as a result of settlers and occupation forces attacking residents in various locations in the West Bank. Recently, 3 Palestinians were killed and 7 others were injured in a settler attack on the town of Kafr Malik, east of Ramallah. Local sources reported that fires broke out as settlers set fire to inhabited houses on the outskirts of the village and to Palestinian vehicles amidst the confrontation of the town's residents and neighboring villages to the attack.
Palestinian platforms documented scenes showing the moment occupation soldiers fired live ammunition directly at Palestinians while they were confronting the settler attack. Scenes on social media also showed ambulances continuing to transport the injured from the town of Kafr Malik following the settler attack.
Comment:
A state of sadness and mourning prevailed in the town of Kafr Malik after the recent criminal attack, which left 3 martyrs from its sons and injured others. Residents live in a state of caution and anxiety, fearing that the settlers will repeat the attack again, especially with the army providing them protection during the implementation of the attacks. In parallel with the war of extermination in Gaza, and according to Palestinian data, the settlers, with the support of the occupation army, have escalated their attacks in the West Bank, which led to the martyrdom of at least 26 Palestinians by their bullets, the injury of thousands, the ignition of more than 450 fires, the displacement of more than 1,200 Palestinians from 20 residential communities, the demolition of 7 Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta and other areas, and the establishment of more than 80 new settlement outposts on the lands of the West Bank in more than 5,000 attacks and assaults since October 2023.
During last May, and according to data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority, settlers carried out 415 attacks in the West Bank, ranging from armed attacks on Palestinian villages in various regions, field executions, sabotage and land leveling, uprooting trees, seizing property, and closures and barriers that cut off the ties of the Palestinian geography.
The question that imposes itself here is: Where is the absent or obscured role of the so-called Palestinian Authority in repelling the settlers' aggression against the people of the West Bank?! Or is its role limited to adhering to the policy of "self-restraint and the field" through security coordination with the occupation, and to persecuting the honorable, collecting taxes, and stealing people's money in various ways, methods, and names, which makes it in a position of helpless, negligent, and complicit, with the absence of any intentions or plans to confront the settlement and settler attacks?!
What is happening in the West Bank is not a local conflict between its people and settlers, but rather an open war within a colonial settlement expansion project that does not recognize peace or rights, nor does it recognize a Palestinian authority or government, which originally came to serve and support the occupation. No good can be expected from it, nor is there any hope in protecting people anywhere in Palestine, as it is unable to protect itself, and the examples and evidence are many.
But injustice will not continue, and arrogance will find someone to break it, and the negligent, complicit will find his punishment, and that is not far from God, ﴿And those who have wronged will know to what [kind of] return they will be returned.﴾.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Muslima Al-Shami (Um Suhaib)