Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence.
All four were hospitalised and one, an Italian man, was still receiving care in Ramallah on Monday for more substantial injuries.
In a written account, the Canadian said: “At 4.30am on 30 November, 10 masked settlers, two carrying army-issued rifles, burst into the home where we were sleeping after night-watch.
“They beat us for about 15 minutes. I was repeatedly kicked in the head, ribs, hips and thighs. They shouted insults at us in Arabic and told us we had no right to be there. They smashed the interior of the house and destroyed the solar batteries before leaving.”
The woman, who did not want her name published for safety reasons, added: “This is not about us. We were beaten for 15 minutes. Palestinians here endure this violence every day, every hour, a thousand-fold.”
The pace and intensity of attacks in Ein al-Duyuk have increased substantially over the past two months since the establishment of a settler outpost nearby and the arrival of young and aggressive settlers.
Activists say that violent incidents have become an almost daily occurrence. Attacks have included settler mobs breaking into homes and beating villagers, stealing 200 sheep, two cars and destroying solar panels.
While all settlements on occupied territory are illegal under international law, irregular outposts are illegal under Israeli law. Ein al-Duyuk is in Area A of the West Bank, which means it is meant to be administered by the Palestinian Authority and illegal for Israelis to enter.
The Canadian foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns the violent acts committed by extremist settlers and opposes any actions or talk about annexation of the Palestinian territories”.
The Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, told reporters: “We have had enough of this aggression. This is not the way [for the settlers] to assert their rights.”
The Israeli authorities in the West Bank have been approached for comment. Villagers and activists say there has been no meaningful police intervention to stop the attacks or dismantle the outpost. Leading members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition actively support West Bank settlers.
According to UN figures, Israeli settlers and security forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, including 233 children, in the West Bank over the past two years, in what many Israeli and Palestinian observers believe is a concerted campaign of violence aimed at seizing territory.
Manal Tamimi, a Palestinian activist in the organisation Faz3a, which recruits foreign volunteers to help protect Palestinian villages in the West Bank, said: “In the two months since they built a new outpost near the village, they have brought in far-right wing settlers, who are very violent and seem to belong to an organised group, because they attacked the volunteers in a really organised way.
“The people there are very resilient and they refuse to leave the area. That’s why it’s very important to put international volunteers with them.”
The Canadian volunteer said that, despite the attack and her injury, she felt the presence of volunteers in Ein al-Duyuk had been valuable.
“The villagers stood taller while we were present,” she said. “The children played freely. People slept through the night. That alone made our presence worthwhile.”
