Israeli settlers torched two mosques over the weekend in a new wave of violence targeting Palestinian towns and villages across the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli military forces on Saturday detained over 70 Palestinians in raids across the occupied territory. This follows the killing of at least four Palestinians in the village of Tal on Friday, when Israeli settlers and soldiers opened fire on residents attempting to protect their homes; two Israelis were also killed.
Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti says the Israeli army and Israeli settlers “should not be seen as separate” as they carry out “a familiar pattern of collective punishment.” She also stresses that anti-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank cannot be divorced from Israeli repression in Jerusalem and its genocide in Gaza.
“This is a colonial regime that is engaging in crimes against humanity,” says Barghouti. “How those crimes look may differ, but in the end they serve the same purpose, and that is ethnically cleansing Palestinians in order to build this Greater Israel in the region.”
