The Brazilian government condemned the attack by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian village of Jit, in the northern West Bank, carried out on Thursday (15). In a statement, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) insisted that the government in Tel Aviv take measures to protect the civilian population, preventing new acts of violence and ensuring that those responsible are punished.
“Brazil deplores the repetition, with increasing frequency, of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, a direct consequence of the policy of expanding illegal settlements in the region,” said Itamaraty, this Friday (16).
Dozens of Israeli settlers, some wearing masks, attacked a Palestinian village near the town of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, burning cars and killing at least one person and seriously wounding another, according to the Reuters news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out about the case, saying that “I take the riots seriously,” adding that it is the armed forces and security forces “and no one else” who fight terrorism. According to Netanyahu, those responsible will be “arrested and prosecuted.”
Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, there has been an increase in violence against Palestinians in the West Bankterritory militarily occupied by Israel since 1967, where there is co-administration with the Palestinian Authority.
West Bank
Since occupying the West Bank, Israel has expanded settler settlements in the region, considered illegal under international law. In July of this year, the United Nations (UN) International Court of Justice (ICJ) stated that Israel must leave the West Bank as soon as possible.
In a statement on the ICJ ruling, Netanyahu said that “the Jewish nation cannot be an invader of its own land.” Amid the war in Gaza, Israel has authorized the creation of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Peace Now, an organization that monitors Israel’s expansion of control over the West Bank, has identified at least five new illegal settlements.
“In almost all cases, the land is either privately owned by Palestinians or has challenging ownership issues that require significant legal maneuvers to reclassify it as ‘state land’ and thus legalize the settlements,” the organization said.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Michal Lynk, Israel has created 300 exclusively Jewish colonies in 50 years. “All of them illegal, with 700,000 Israeli Jewish settlers now living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, among, but apart from, 3 million Palestinians,” he reports.
