US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Saturday that Israel's government bears responsibility for protecting Palestinians across the occupied West Bank.
He spoke to reporters after meeting Palestinian families, including relatives of US citizens killed by Israeli settlers, in Turmus Ayya.
Huckabee said, "One of the messages that we have been sending and we will continue to send is that people in these communities have a right to live with a level of security and safety, and that the government has a responsibility to make sure that that happens."
Illegal settler violence has surged sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, Israel's most right-wing government yet, took office in 2022.
Several new settlements have sprung up around Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian town near Ramallah that Huckabee visited on Saturday.
Residents say militant illegal settlers routinely harass the town, damaging property of Palestinians while Israeli troops largely fail to intervene or prosecute.
Mayor Nawwaf Zaghoul told reporters, "We have many issues that we will address," stressing constant attacks by illegal settlers.
He noted that roughly 80 percent of Turmus Ayya's 3,000 residents hold Palestinian American citizenship, heightening Washington's stake in their safety.
Resident Sameer Hazama said, "We are hoping that (the ambassador) will do something for us regarding these lawless settlers."
Netanyahu’s illegal expansion
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime champion of Israeli settlements, has called for prosecuting violent offenders among them.
He maintains such illegal settlers represent only a small fraction of a broader community numbering around 750,000 people.
Huckabee previously visited Taybeh, a Christian village, after a church there was vandalised, calling the desecration an act of “terror” and a crime.
Netanyahu's government has simultaneously expanded illegal settlements throughout the territory, tightening its grip on land Palestinians envision for statehood.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, with the United Nations and most countries deeming the territory to be occupied. Israel's government says that the land is disputed, not occupied.
