Thousands of settlers protected by Israeli army damage property in Palestinian neighbourhood

Thousands of illegal Jewish settlers have damaged property in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Kafl Haris near Salfit in the occupied West Bank. The settlers, who claimed that they were visiting a “historical site”, were protected by Israeli occupation forces during the incident on Friday morning which lasted for 3 hours.

Chanting racist slogans such as “Death to the Arabs” around 4,000 settlers arrived in the area on buses accompanied by more than 30 Israeli army vehicles. They scrawled racist graffiti on the walls and doors of Palestinian houses. Local sources said that the soldiers blocked off the entrances to the neighbourhood, closed shops and prevented Palestinian citizens from moving outside their homes.

There are four tombs of Muslim scholars in Kafl Haris but the settlers claim that they belong to Jewish rabbis and make frequent visits to them. Palestinian residents describe the settlers’ actions as attempts to “distort the history of the Arab and Islamic land” of Palestine.