The United States (US) Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, condemned today the violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, calling them "terrorists".
Huckabee met with several Palestinian-American villagers in Turmus Aja today, who have been experiencing settler attacks for months.
"If usurpers come in, raise their flags and take possession of something that doesn't belong to them, if they set fire to a car, if they set fire to a mosque, if they enter someone's home and demolish it or write graffiti on the walls - that's a crime. But it goes beyond the scope of a crime. It's an act of terror," Huckabee said in Turmus Aja.
The ambassador also called the settlers that last month, when they surrounded several homes in the city of Qusra, including one owned by a Palestinian American.
A few days later, residents of the West Bank village of Bazariya reported that settlers had set fire to a mosque and left graffiti on the wall with a message in Hebrew: "Haqqabi, greetings from the terrorists."
The ambassador said today that he was "glad that they acknowledged it."
"I am very aware that many Americans living in Turmus Aja and other places throughout this region do not enjoy the life they deserve, nor the peace. It is a life that is disrupted by people who have created enormous challenges – challenges that are unjust and unlawful," Huckabee said.
The US embassy cannot investigate criminal activity, he said, but it can point out to the host country's government that "there are needs that need to be addressed, issues that cannot go unnoticed, and certain crimes and acts of terrorism that cannot continue without investigation and judicial proceedings - which every individual has the right to expect."
The Israeli army operates in all parts of the West Bank, but human rights organizations say it often turns a blind eye to violence by settlers - Israeli citizens.
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