West Bank06 September, 20262 min read
Israel’s High Court Orders State To Let Three Palestinian Families Return After Settler Expulsion
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Israel's High Court orders government to allow three Palestinian families to return home. The families were driven out by settlers in the West Bank, per Haaretz report.
The Jerusalem Post was read line by line by the Watchdog: 3.2. See the score →
Court orders return
Israel’s High Court of Justice ordered the state on Sunday to allow three Palestinian families expelled from their homes by settlers in the West Bank to return and to provide security for them. Haaretz identified the order as coming from the High Court of Justice and placed it in the context of ongoing settler activity in the West Bank.
The New York Times framed the West Bank as the arena where Israel exerts the most control, noting that over half a million Israeli citizens live among some three million Palestinians who are under military occupation without citizenship. In that same framing, the New York Times described the West Bank as the place where Jewish settler militia groups operate like a paramilitary force to advance Israel’s goals, and it linked that to state and military cover.
Huckabee in Turmus Ayya
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with West Bank Palestinians in Turmus Ayya near Ramallah and told reporters that “crime is crime, terror is terror.” Huckabee said the Israeli government has a responsibility to ensure targeted Palestinians’ safety, and he delivered a message that people who carry out attacks should have “an expectation that they will have severe consequences.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that the meeting included families of Palestinian Americans killed by extremist Israelis and that Palestinians in Turmus Ayya were facing constant settler attacks, with Mayor Nawwaf Zaghoul saying about 80% of the town’s residents hold US citizenship. CBS News added that during his visit Huckabee condemned behavior as an “act of terror,” saying, “If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a car, if they torch a mosque, if they go into someone's home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that's a criminal act.”
Attacks, injuries, demolitions
Al-Jazīrah Net reported that a Palestinian was martyred and 3 others were injured, including a 17-year-old boy, after two attacks by armed settlers in the districts of Qalqilya and Jerusalem in the northern and central parts of the West Bank. The report said medical sources at the Darwish Nazzal Government Hospital in the Qalqilya governorate reported the martyrdom of Omar Al-Tubas, who died of a head wound by gunfire from settlers during an attack on the village of Hajja.
Separately, the Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli occupation authorities gave five Palestinian households in north occupied Jerusalem between 24 hours and two days to evacuate in preparation for demolition, including a house near the Jeb roundabout military checkpoint and four homes in the al-Qubbah district of the town of Al-Ram. Al-Jazīrah Net also stated that the West Bank is witnessing a pattern of raids and incursions by Israeli forces into cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps, accompanied by arrests, clashes, and live and rubber bullets and tear gas directed at Palestinians.