The EU has urged Israel to take measures to protect Palestinians, expressing concern about Israeli settlers’ increasing violence in the West Bank.
“Under international humanitarian law and international law, the Israeli authorities must take all necessary measures to protect Palestinians and their property from settler violence,” the EU delegation to the Palestinians tweeted on Wednesday.
The delegation expressed concern about “recent settler violence against Palestinian residents and human rights defenders in the village of At Tuwani and the South Hebron hills.”
It noted that two Israeli human rights defenders were accompanying a Palestinian shepherd and his flock of sheep on private Palestinian land on Monday when they were harassed and threatened by more than a dozen settlers.
“This is entirely unacceptable,” it said.
“Everyone has the right, individually and collectively, to engage in peaceful activities in opposition to human rights violations and fundamental freedoms,” the EU stated.
From the beginning of this year until March 21, Israeli settlers carried out 128 attacks in the West Bank, 113 of which caused property damage, and in 15 of them, Palestinian were injured, according to the UN.
