Italy and Canada have expressed concern over the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, the British newspaper The Guardian reports today.
Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Dujuk, near Jericho, where they were volunteering to help protect the Palestinian population from increasingly intense settler violence.
All four were hospitalized, and one, an Italian, was still receiving treatment in Ramallah today, due to serious injuries.
In a written statement, the Canadian stated: "At 4:30 a.m. on November 30, ten masked settlers, two armed with army-issued rifles, burst into the house where we were sleeping after a night watch. They beat us for about 15 minutes. They kicked me repeatedly in the head, ribs, hips and thighs. They shouted insults in Arabic and told us we had no right to be there. They smashed the inside of the house and destroyed the solar panels before leaving."
The woman, who did not want her name published for security reasons, added: "This is not about us. We were beaten for 15 minutes. Palestinians here suffer this violence every day, every hour, a thousand times over."
The pace and intensity of attacks in Ein al-Dujuk have increased significantly over the past two months, since the establishment of a settler stronghold nearby and the arrival of young and aggressive settlers.
Activists say violent incidents have become almost daily occurrences. Attacks have included groups of settlers breaking into homes and beating up locals, the theft of 200 sheep, two cars and the destruction of solar panels.
While all settlements in the occupied territory are illegal under international law, the irregular outposts are also illegal under Israeli law. Ein al-Dujuk is located in Area A of the West Bank, which means it is to be administered by the Palestinian Authority and Israelis are prohibited from entering.
Canada's foreign affairs ministry said it "strongly condemns the violent acts committed by extremist settlers and opposes any actions or speech about the annexation of Palestinian territories."
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters: "We have had enough of this aggression. This is not the way (for migrants) to exercise their rights."
Israeli authorities in the West Bank have been asked for comment. Locals and activists say there has been no substantive police intervention to stop the attacks or remove the stronghold. Leading members of the ruling coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have actively supported settlers in the West Bank, according to the Guardian.
According to the United Nations (UN), Israeli settlers and security forces have killed more than 1.000 Palestinians, including 233 children, in the West Bank over the past two years, in what many Israeli and Palestinian observers believe is a coordinated campaign of violence aimed at capturing territory.
Manal Tamimi, a Palestinian activist with the organization Faz3a, which recruits foreign volunteers to help protect Palestinian villages in the West Bank, said: "In the two months since they built a new stronghold near the villages, they have brought in far-right settlers, who are very violent and seem to belong to an organized group, because they attacked the volunteers in a really organized way. The people there are very resistant and refuse to leave the area. That's why it's very important that international volunteers are with them."
The Canadian volunteer said that, despite the attack and injury, she felt the volunteers' presence in Ein al-Dujuk was valuable.
"The locals walked more upright when we were there. The children played freely. People slept through the night. That alone made our presence worthwhile," she said.
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