An article in the British newspaper The Guardian described the imposition of American, British and French sanctions on more than 30 Israeli settlers for committing acts of violence and incitement against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, as a historic step.

This step will result in freezing the assets of those settlers, who have documented records proving that they committed arson, theft, physical assault and destruction of property. They will also be subject to restrictions on traveling abroad, and their ability to do business limited, according to an article by independent journalist Zach Witus.

International human rights organizations have long protested the lack of accountability for settler violence.

Witus - who works as coordinator of the sector concerned with youth leadership and education at the "New Israel Fund", based in the US state of California - comments on these sanctions, saying that they will significantly hinder the mechanism of settler violence and may be the strongest message so far directed to the Israeli government about the need to curb attacks on Palestinian societies, as its continuation will have repercussions.

It will not solve a problem because it is part of a corrupt system

However, the writer believes that these sanctions on a few settlers will not solve the basic problem, as they are “not just a bunch of rotten apples,” but rather part of a long-term, systematic policy of the Israeli government aimed at expelling the Palestinians from their lands to make way for the expansion of the settlements. He described it as a bad policy that only produces corrupt people.

Witus said that he personally saw some of these Palestinians while working as a volunteer as a human rights monitor in 2022 in the rural area of Masafer Yata in the West Bank, where the Palestinian population largely depends on pastoralism and agriculture as a source of livelihood. He added that he saw with his own eyes two settlers - Yinon Levy and Eli Federman - attacking Palestinians almost weekly without justification.

Horrific scenes

He added that he saw the two settlers and some of their accomplices in the crime in the vicinity of the village of Zanuta, south of the city of Hebron, repeatedly attacking Palestinian shepherds and their herds of livestock, chasing them with dogs and drones to intimidate them and push them to leave their lands so that they (the Israelis) could graze their sheep and lambs on the Palestinians’ crops.

He added that he took pictures of Lennon Levy and others in the village of Susya in the Hebron Governorate, as they were illegally paving a road on private Palestinian land that leads to a settlement outpost. Another video clip showed Levy driving a bulldozer and moving piles of dirt to a road in order to close the only entrance and exit to the village.

Witus went on to tell stories of settler violations, and said that his fellow human rights activists filmed Federman unleashing his dachshund on a Palestinian resident of the area and biting his arm and stomach, while other settlers were aiming their rifles at Palestinians watching the scene.

He continued that during his time in the West Bank, he saw more than once that the Israeli army and police were unable to stop the crimes of settlers.

The settlers are an independent authority

According to the Guardian article, the settlers informed the residents of Zanota - weeks after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attacked Israel on October 7 - that if they did not leave within 24 hours, they would kill them. The next day, all 250 residents of the village packed their belongings and left. Last month, settlers erected a fence around the village so that its Palestinian residents could not return to it.

Witus stated that 2023 was the worst year ever for settler violence, who attacked Palestinians and their property in more than 1,200 separate incidents; They killed at least 10 Palestinians and set dozens of homes on fire, all of which occurred before the Hamas attacks on October 7.

Ben Gvir officially incites violence

He referred to the explicit orders issued by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to Israeli forces not to apply the law in cases of “Jewish nationalist violence.”

As a result of these policies, settlers and the Israeli army were able to forcibly displace at least 198 Palestinian families, with an estimated number of 1,208 people - including 586 children - from more than 12 villages during the months of November and December.

Source: Guardian+Aljazeera