UK, EU diplomats: Settlers have made Palestinian lives intolerable

European officials yesterday slammed rising Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian properties and villages and called on Tel Aviv “to do more to hold to account and prevent those who have made the lives of Palestinians … intolerable.”

Representatives from the United Kingdom, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Canada and Norway yesterday visited the Palestinian community of Burqa which has witnessed increasing settler violence and the demolition of EU-funded schools.

They learned how the community has endured harassment and intimidation from settlers. “They also observed the aftermath of Ras At-Tin’s displacement due to settler attacks and how these attacks intensified after the establishment of an illegal outpost near the community,” their statement said.

“The delegation was extremely alarmed by the growth of settler violence, which alongside demolitions has displaced over 400 Palestinians this year and resulted in several casualties across the West Bank.”

Additionally, diplomats strongly condemned the recent demolition of Ein Samiya school, which was funded by donors as humanitarian relief, emphasising Israel’s breach of international humanitarian law. They called on Israel, as the occupying power, to halt all confiscations and demolitions and to give unimpeded access to humanitarian organisations in the occupied West Bank.

More than 750,000 Israeli settlers illegally live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the UN.