Israeli settler arrests mean nothing amid ethnic cleansing, say activists

The Israeli police said on Thursday it arrested four people suspected of taking part in a violent attack by illegal Jewish settlers on the Palestinian village of Jit in the occupied West Bank, during which one Palestinian was killed.

The August 15 attack by dozens of settlers armed with guns and Molotov cocktails drew unusual condemnation from Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"This was a severe terror event that included setting fire to buildings and vehicles, stone and molotov-cocktail hurling, as well as live fire, resulting in the killing of one Palestinian and the injuring of another," a statement by the police and the domestic security agency said.

The increasing incidence of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war on October 7 has drawn broad condemnation internationally, including from Israel allies such as the United States.

But Palestinian rights activists say such arrests are hogwash as Jewish settlers for years destroyed Palestinian property and occupied their villages without facing any concrete action.

“The government of Benjamin Netanyahu is part of the problem. This government has promised annexation of the occupied West Bank, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is at the heart of its programme,” Nour Odeh, a Palestinian politician analyst, tells TRT World.

Rights groups say the settler violence in the occupied West Bank is backed by the Israeli state, which has introduced laws and policies that force Palestinians to leave their ancestral homes.

Odeh says Israeli settlers routinely attack the homes and cattle of Palestinian villagers who struggle to rebuild lives because Tel Aviv doesn’t allow them to reconstruct.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on August 21 said that Israeli settler violence has forcibly driven out more than a hundred Palestinians forcibly over the past 10 days from northeast West Bank.

“Three communities comprising 119 Palestinians have been forced out over the past 10 days after Israeli settlers attacked community members in their homes, erected new settler outposts and blocked access to water.

Palestinians and rights groups regularly accuse Israeli forces of standing by while attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians take place and say the violence almost never results in prosecutions.

The United States and a number of European countries have imposed sanctions on violent settlers and repeatedly called on Israel to do more to curb the attacks.

The Israeli authorities said the four arrested included three adults and a minor who were suspected of several acts of terrorism against Palestinians.

The investigation was continuing, the statement said.