Growing alarm at rise in violence in occupied West Bank

The United Nations human rights chief and the European Union have expressed alarm over ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank, and over attacks by settlers on Palestinian villagers. But a prominent member of the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for illegal settlers’ outposts to be expanded and turned into full settlements.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Turmusayya in the West Bank on Wednesday, the day after the killing of four Jewish settlers nearby, according to the mayor of the village. Those killings had been in response to an Israeli military operation in the Jenin area.

The EU representative to the Palestinians, joined by more than 20 diplomatic missions from the EU and beyond, has visited Turmusayya “to express condolences to the victims of the settler attacks on 21 June and see the houses and property impacted,” the mission said on Twitter.

The chief spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also condemned the settler attacks in Turmusayya and Urif. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the incident as “very grave.”

“This is an incident that creates terror and escalation, and takes the population that isn’t involved in terror and pushes it [toward extremism], while preventing the IDF from fighting terror in operational activities,” he told Army Radio.

UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk said the violence this week risks “spiraling out of control, fueled by strident political rhetoric and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel.”