Killing of Palestinian activist in West Bank sparks condemnation
Al-Hathaleen was shot in the chest on Monday during a raid by Israel settlers in Umm Al-Khair village in the South Hebron Hills. One of the settlers involved in the attack was identified as Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the UK and the EU, while US President Donald Trump rescinded restrictions at the beginning of his presidency this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, Amnesty International condemned the killing as a 'cold-blooded' act and 'a brutal reminder of the relentless violence faced by Palestinian communities.'
The organization's senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, urged an independent international investigation into his death and growing settler violence in the territory.
Describing the situation in the West Bank as state impunity for Israeli settler violence, Rosas called out Israeli authorities for what she described as a 'deliberate failure' to investigate settler attacks.
She said an international inquiry 'must address the role of Israeli authorities' in fueling settler violence against Palestinians, pointing to the recurrent failure to ensure justice and protect Palestinians' lives.
Israel authorities said Levi was arrested in relation to his alleged responsibility for the killing, but after a court hearing he was released to house arrest as investigations continue.
Amensty International's Rosas said Al-Hathaleen, who had recently briefed UK politicians on threats to his life, 'was entitled to protection. His killing is the cruel consequence of Israel's sustained policy of forcibly expulsing Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, including Masafer Yatta,' Rosas added.
'Awda Al-Hathaleen's killing is not the first, but it must be the last.'
Al-Hathaleen, a father of three and prominent human rights defender from the Masafer Yatta region, was a central voice in the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land,' which documented the ongoing displacement and harassment of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
His death comes during a sharp incease in settler-led assaults and Palestinian casualties in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza. At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.
Rights groups have repeatedly said that Israeli settlers, often accompanied by the army, have escalated attacks and land seizures in recent months with little or no accountability.
Israeli human rights organization, Rabbis for Human Rights, called Al-Hathaleen's murder 'the outcome of decades of unchecked settler violence and a system that grants total impunity to those who carry it out.'
In a tribute, the organization said Al-Hathaleen 'stood at the forefront of the struggle against home demolitions and settler violence.'
'He often welcomed delegations of rabbis, giving them tours of the village and sharing its history with deep generosity and courage. He was a longtime partner in our humanitarian aid work and worked closely with Rabbis for Human Rights for many years. His steadfast presence and leadership were a source of strength to all of us.'
The rights group vowed to 'stand with the people of Umm al-Kheir as they resist a system that seeks to erase them - as they fight to stay on their land, to live, and to thrive.'
The French foreign ministry released a statement on Tuesday calling settler violence 'acts of terrorism,' and warning of increasing sanctions against Israeli government officials if such attacks continue.
It condemned the rising settler attacks and urged Israeli authorities to 'uphold their responsibilities and immediately punish the perpetrators of such violence, which is continuing with impunity, and protect Palestinian civilians.'
The ministry reiterated France's stance against the expansion of illegal settlements 'which is contrary to international law, as the International Court of Justice concluded in its advisory opinion of July 19, 2024.'
In February last year, France sanctioned extremist Israeli settlers guilty of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. There are 28 individuals who face an administrative ban on entering the country.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Trump declines to say if he supports or opposes potential Gaza takeover by Israel
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential military takeover of Gaza by Israel and said his administration's focus was on increasing food access to the Palestinian enclave under assault from Washington's ally. KEY QUOTES 'I know that we are there now trying to get people fed,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday. 'As far as the rest of it, I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel.' Trump said Israel and Arab states were going to help with food and aid distribution in Gaza and provide financial assistance. He did not elaborate. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met senior security officials on Tuesday, with media reporting he favored a complete military takeover of Gaza. Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza earlier this year, an idea which was condemned by many around the world including human rights experts, Arab states, the UN and Palestinians. CONTEXT Israel's near two-year long military assault in Gaza has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced nearly the entire population and led to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations and casts its military offensive as self-defense following an October 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200 and in which over 250 were taken hostage.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Syrian president and UK national security adviser discuss strengthening ties
LONDON: Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the interim president of the Syrian Arab Republic, discussed strengthening ties with the UK during a meeting with National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell in Damascus on Tuesday. The two sides discussed regional and international developments during a meeting attended by Asaad Al-Shaibani, the minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, and Director of General Intelligence Hussein Al-Salama. Al-Sharaa emphasized Syria's willingness to consider sincere initiatives that promote regional security and stability, as long as they respect Syrian sovereignty and independent national decisions, the official SANA news agency reported.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Aid truck drivers face increasing danger from desperate crowds, armed gangs
GAZA CITY: Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory's rulers. Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza's markets for exorbitant prices. Israeli troops often shoot into the chaos, they said. Drivers have been killed in the mayhem. Since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire in its war with Hamas and halted all imports, the situation has grown increasingly dire in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. International experts are now warning of a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in Gaza. Nahed Sheheibr, head of the Special Transport Association, accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza. Though aid groups say it's still not enough, getting even that amount from the border crossings to the people who need it is difficult and extremely dangerous, the drivers said. Thousands of people packed the road around them on Monday as two trucks entered southern Gaza, as shown in AP video. Young men overwhelmed the trucks, standing on the cabs' roofs, dangling from the sides, and clambering over each other onto the truck beds to grab boxes even as the trucks slowly kept driving. 'Some of my drivers are scared to go transfer aid because they're concerned about how they'll untangle themselves from large crowds of people,' said Abu Khaled Selim, vice president of the Special Transport Association, a nonprofit group that works with private transportation companies across the Gaza Strip and advocates for truck drivers' rights. Selim said his nephew, Ashraf Selim, a father of eight, was killed July 29 by a stray bullet when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds climbing onto the aid truck he was driving. Shifa Hospital officials said they received his body with an apparent gunshot to the head. Earlier in the war, aid deliveries were safer because, with more food getting into Gaza, the population was less desperate. Hamas-run police had been seen securing convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid at exorbitant prices, Now, 'with the situation unsecured, everything is permissible,' said Selim, who appealed for protection so the aid trucks could reach warehouses. The UN does not accept protection from Israeli forces, saying it would violate its rules of neutrality, and said that given the urgent need for aid, it would accept that hungry people were going to grab food off the back of the trucks as long as they weren't violent. Flooding Gaza with renewed aid would ease the desperation and make things safer for the drivers, said Juliette Touma, communications director at UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Ali Al-Derbashi, 22, had been an aid truck driver for more than a year and a half, but he quit after his last trip three weeks ago due to the increasing danger, he said. Some people taking aid off the trucks are now carrying cleavers, knives, and axes, he said. He was once ambushed and forcibly redirected to an area designated by Israel as a conflict zone in its war against Hamas. There, everything was stolen, including his truck's fuel and batteries, and his tires were shot out, he said. He was beaten and his phone was stolen. 'We put our lives in danger for this. We leave our families for two or three days every time. And we don't even have water or food ourselves,' he said. In addition to the danger, the drivers faced humiliation from Israeli forces, he said, who put them through 'prolonged searches, unclear instructions, and hours of waiting.' The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the latest figures by Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The threats come from everywhere Nahed Sheheibr, head of the Special Transport Association, said the danger for the drivers comes from everywhere. He accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. In recent days, men linked to a violent Gaza clan fired at drivers, injuring one, and looted a convoy of 14 trucks, he said. They later looted a convoy of 10 trucks. Hossni Al-Sharafi, who runs a trucking company and was an aid driver himself, said he is only allowed to use drivers who have no political affiliation and have been approved by Israel to transport aid from crossings. Al-Sharafi said he was detained by Israeli forces for more than 10 days last year while transporting aid from the southern Kerem Shalom crossing and interrogated about where the truck was headed and how the aid was being distributed. Israeli officials did not comment on the accusations. Some drivers spoke of being shot at repeatedly by armed gangs. Others said their trucks were routinely picked clean — even of the wooden pallets— by waves of desperate people, many of whom were fighting each other for the food, while Israeli troops were shooting. Hungry families who miss out on the aid throw stones at the trucks in anger. Anas Rabea said the moment he pulled out of the Zikkim crossing last week, his aid truck was overwhelmed by a crowd. 'Our instructions are to stop, because we don't want to run anyone over,' he said. 'It's crazy. You have people climbing all over the cargo, over the windows. It's like you're blind, you can't see out.' After the crowd had stripped everything, he drove another few hundred meters and was stopped by an armed gang that threatened to shoot him. They searched the truck and took a bag of flour he had saved for himself, he said. 'Every time we go out, we get robbed,' he said. 'It's getting worse day by day.'
