Latest news with #NeriaBenPazi
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Violent Israeli settlers under UK sanctions join illegal West Bank outpost
Two violent Israeli settlers on whom sanctions were imposed by the UK government this week have joined a campaign to drive Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank village of Mughayyir al-Deir. Neria Ben Pazi's organisation, Neria's Farm, had sanctions imposed by London on Tuesday, as the UK suspended negotiations on a new free-trade deal with Israel over its refusal to allow aid into Gaza and cabinet ministers' calls to 'purify Gaza' by expelling Palestinians. The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, attacked the 'impunity' of violent settlers as he announced sanctions designed to hold them and Israeli authorities to account. 'The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions,' he said. Ben Pazi himself was put on the UK sanctions list last year, with the government citing his role building illegal outposts and forcing Palestinian Bedouin families from their homes. This week he made repeated long visits to an illegal outpost set up on Sunday less than 100 metres from a Palestinian home on the edge of Mughayyir al-Deir, a community of around 150 bedouins. Another visitor to the outpost, photographed on Wednesday and identified by local activists, was Zohar Sabah. He visited the day after he was added to the UK sanctions list for 'threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals'. The settlers set up a basic shelter next to a sheep enclosure with a small herd, which formed the base for a campaign of intimidation that began immediately. 'I haven't slept since they came, and the children are terrified,' said Ahmad Sulaiman, a 58-year-old father of eleven whose home was closest to the outpost. Born just a stone's throw away, he had spent his life in Mughayyir al-Deir, but by Thursday he was packing to leave, although the family did not know where they would go. 'The settlers told me: 'This is our home',' said Sulaiman. 'There is nothing I can do. They have guns and other weapons.' The intended deterrent effect of the UK sanctions was not visible at Mughayyir al-Deir, where settlers expanded their campaign of intimidation in the days after the British announcement, and the only public response from Israeli officials was a visit in support of the settlers. Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Knesset and the far-right Religious Zionist party, was filmed by activists as he left the illegal outpost. During a debate on Israel's Channel 12 last week Sukkot said: 'Everyone has got used to the idea that we can kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody in the world cares.' The hills nearby are surrounded by the burned remains of Palestinian villages, whose residents were forced out by campaigns run from similar Israeli outposts. But setting up such a short distance from the Palestinians being targeted is unprecedented. Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch, part of the campaign group Peace Now, said settler outposts had been getting nearer to Palestinian communities since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, 'but I don't remember any others that were established so close'. 'It shows the settlers' lack of fear, and the understanding that they can do what they like; they can just set up in the Palestinian community. And they didn't come to be good neighbours,' Mizrachi added. Sabah was indicted by Israeli authorities in September for his role in an attack on a school in Mu'arrajat East, where settlers targeted teachers, a 13-year-old pupil and the principal, who was hospitalised. Shai Parnes, a spokesperson for the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, said: 'Israeli policy to take as much land as possible hasn't changed. But what has been changing under this current government is the total impunity for soldiers and settlers. 'They used to hide their faces or attack at night, everything is happening much more brutal and violent and it is happening in broad daylight. They are really proud about what they're doing, sometimes even uploading the assaults themselves to social media.' Forced displacement began before the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent ongoing Gaza war, but has intensified since then. Around 1,200 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been forced to leave 20 communities, according to figures from B'tselem. It is a second displacement for families such as Sulaiman's, who lived near what is now the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva until 1948. They were forced out in the nakba, or catastrophe, in which about 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in 1948 after the creation of Israel. Israel's military occupation of the West Bank began in 1967. Around 500,000 Jewish Israelis live in settlements there, all illegal under international law. Dozens of small makeshift outposts are also illegal under Israeli law – like the one set up in Mughayyir al-Deir – but authorities rarely try to remove them. Ben Pazi set up his own farm in the area east of Ramallah in 2018 and has been involved in attacks and land grabs in the area for many years, according to the British and US governments. Most use a combination of attacks on people, destruction of property and deployment of herds of sheep and goats to graze land where Palestinians have fed their flocks for decades. The US state department said in 2024, when sanctions were imposed on Ben Pazi under the Biden administration: 'Ben Pazi has expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land. In August 2023, settlers including Ben Pazi attacked Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq.' Donald Trump lifted those sanctions. Ben Pazi's violence attracted the attention of Israel's military commander for the region, Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs, who issued an administrative order barring Ben Pazi from entering the West Bank in late 2023. Ben Pazi's role in the campaign to force Palestinians out of Mughayyir al-Deir was unclear. He hung up when the Guardian called to ask for comment, and did not respond to further messages. The Guardian was unable to contact Sabah. Ben Pazi was a regular visitor to the new outpost, spending several hours there on at least three days this week, according to several Israeli activists who recognised him from work in the region. On one visit he was photographed greeting an unidentified man wearing a military-style uniform. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said the country's armed forces did not authorise or organise the forced displacement of Mughayyir al-Deir. 'The alleged evacuation was neither conducted by [IDF troops ] nor carried out with their approval,' a spokesperson said. Asked why the military did not remove the illegal outpost, they said any demolition would be a political decision. 'Enforcement against unlawful construction in the area is undertaken in accordance with the priorities set by the political echelon and is carried out under its authorisation,' the spokesperson said. Ben Pazi drove a group of settlers and equipment to the edge of the village, where they started erecting a fence around land where Palestinians had lived and farmed for decades. Parnes, of B'tselem, said: 'The international community have so much more to do in terms of directing steps towards the Israeli government. 'What is happening is not just about a violent threat in this place or that; it's all part of a well-defended and subsidised policy run by the government.'
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Israeli settlers force about 150 Palestinians to leave their West Bank village
Violent Israeli settlers including two under UK sanctions have forced about 150 Palestinians to leave their village in the occupied West Bank, through a five-day intimidation campaign carried out under the watch of the Israeli police and army. On Sunday morning, settlers established an illegal outpost, consisting of a basic shelter and a sheep pen, 100 metres from a Palestinian home in Mughayyir al-Deir, east of Ramallah. By Friday, dozens of villagers had already moved their flocks away, packed up their belongings and were dismantling the wooden and metal frames of their houses. Settlers stalked between Palestinian men who worked fast and largely in silence, grappling with the grim reality of leaving the place where most were born and grew up. A child cried as he was driven away on a truck loaded with the family's red sofas. 'We are all leaving,' said one villager, who asked not to be named. Settlers threw stones at some trucks as they left, and celebrated on social media. Elisha Yered, an unofficial spokesperson for the extremist group Hilltop Youth, wrote: 'This is what redemption looks like! This is a relatively large outpost that contained about 150 people from the enemy population, but it was broken.' Yered is subject to sanctions from the UK and the EU, which said he was 'part of a group of armed settlers' involved in an attack in 2023 that led to the death of a 19-year-old Palestinian, Qusai Jammal Mi'tan. Two other settlers under UK sanctions, Neria Ben Pazi and Zohar Sabah, spent time at the illegal outpost this week, and Ben Pazi also worked on building a fence around Palestinian land. Other Bedouin came to help villagers pack up and leave, including some who understood their fear and pain intimately because violent Israeli settlers had also driven them off the land. The tactics used by the settlers this week were not new. The nearby hills are dotted with the ruins of abandoned villages, at least one, Wadi as-Seeq, also targeted by the UK-sanctioned Ben Pazi. Settlers had never before built an outpost so close to Palestinian homes and the speed and intensity of the campaign in Mughayyir al-Deir was a sign of their growing confidence, activists said. Police patrolled through the village on Friday and Israeli soldiers stood nearby. None intervened, although a 'stop work' order had been issued for the illegal outpost after it was thrown up, and several settlers who spent time at it were also known to Israeli authorities for extreme violence. A previous Israeli commander for the central region, Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs, tried in 2023 to bar Ben Pazi from the West Bank over violent attacks on Palestinians. The only other official Israeli visitor during the week was a far-right member of the Knesset, Zvi Sukkot, who came to back the settlers. Last week, Sukkot said in a TV debate that Israel 'can kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody in the world cares'. One Palestinian family filed a petition with Israel's supreme court on Thursday demanding an injunction and urgent hearing into why the military, police and local authorities did not act to prevent the forced evictions and protect Palestinians. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said troops operated 'to ensure the security of the state of Israel and Judea and Samaria [Israel's name for the occupied West Bank]', and the government directs how the military should enforce orders about illegal construction. The military would respond to the legal petition in court, the spokesperson said. A hearing is scheduled for next week, although by the time judges hear it the village will be empty. For many of the families forced out, their move on Friday was a second displacement at the hands of Israelis, as their parents and grandparents had been forced from land near the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva when the state was formed in 1948.
Arab News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Israeli settlers sanctioned by UK spotted at illegal West Bank outpost
LONDON: Two Israeli settlers sanctioned by the UK this week have taken part in efforts to displace Palestinian families from the West Bank village of Mughayyir Al-Deir. Neria Ben Pazi and Zohar Sabah were both spotted visiting an illegal outpost set up on Sunday near the community of around 150 Bedouins, The Guardian reported. Ben Pazi's organization Neria's Farm was sanctioned on Tuesday after the UK suspended talks with the Israeli government on a free trade agreement over its blockade of Gaza and the extremist language of several of the country's ministers. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the actions of the Israeli government and suggestions its military would 'purify Gaza,' saying it 'has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions.' Ben Pazi was sanctioned in 2024 for his role in displacing other Bedouin families in the West Bank. According to the US State Department, 'Ben Pazi has expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land. In August 2023, settlers including Ben Pazi attacked Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq,' The Guardian reported. His violence in the area even led to Israel's regional military commander, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, banning Ben Pazi from entering the West Bank in 2023. Sabah was sanctioned by the UK for 'threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals.' This included his role in an attack on a Palestinian school, which injured teachers and pupils and hospitalized the principal. The settler outpost in question, less than 100 meters from Palestinian homes at Mughayyir Al-Deir, was also visited by Zvi Sukkot, an MP with the Religious Zionist Party, who caused outrage last week when he told Israel's Channel 12: 'Everyone has got used to the idea that we can kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody in the world cares.' Ahmad Sulaiman, a 58-year-old father of 11 children who lives close to the settler outpost, said intimidation had started against his community. 'I haven't slept since they came, and the children are terrified,' he told The Guardian. 'The settlers told me: 'This is our home.'' He added: 'There is nothing I can do. They have guns and other weapons.' Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says around 1,200 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023. Yonatan Mizrachi, co-director of Settlement Watch, said the boldness of settlers despite international sanctions 'shows the settlers' lack of fear, and the understanding that they can do what they like.' B'Tselem spokesperson Shai Parnes said: 'Israeli policy to take as much land as possible hasn't changed. But what has been changing under this current government is the total impunity for soldiers and settlers.'
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Violent Israeli settlers under UK sanctions join illegal West Bank outpost
Two violent Israeli settlers on whom sanctions were imposed by the UK government this week have joined a campaign to drive Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank village of Mughayyir al-Deir. Neria Ben Pazi's organisation, Neria's Farm, had sanctions imposed by London on Tuesday, as the UK suspended negotiations on a new free-trade deal with Israel over its refusal to allow aid into Gaza and cabinet ministers' calls to 'purify Gaza' by expelling Palestinians. The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, attacked the 'impunity' of violent settlers as he announced sanctions designed to hold them and Israeli authorities to account. 'The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions,' he said. Ben Pazi himself was put on the UK sanctions list last year, with the government citing his role building illegal outposts and forcing Palestinian Bedouin families from their homes. This week he made repeated long visits to an illegal outpost set up on Sunday less than 100 metres from a Palestinian home on the edge of Mughayyir al-Deir, a community of around 150 bedouins. Another visitor to the outpost, photographed on Wednesday and identified by local activists, was Zohar Sabah. He visited the day after he was added to the UK sanctions list for 'threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals'. The settlers set up a basic shelter next to a sheep enclosure with a small herd, which formed the base for a campaign of intimidation that began immediately. 'I haven't slept since they came, and the children are terrified,' said Ahmad Sulaiman, a 58-year-old father of eleven whose home was closest to the outpost. Born just a stone's throw away, he had spent his life in Mughayyir al-Deir, but by Thursday he was packing to leave, although the family did not know where they would go. 'The settlers told me: 'This is our home',' said Sulaiman. 'There is nothing I can do. They have guns and other weapons.' The intended deterrent effect of the UK sanctions was not visible at Mughayyir al-Deir, where settlers expanded their campaign of intimidation in the days after the British announcement, and the only public response from Israeli officials was a visit in support of the settlers. Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Knesset and the far-right Religious Zionist party, was filmed by activists as he left the illegal outpost. During a debate on Israel's Channel 12 last week Sukkot said: 'Everyone has got used to the idea that we can kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody in the world cares.' The hills nearby are surrounded by the burned remains of Palestinian villages, whose residents were forced out by campaigns run from similar Israeli outposts. But setting up such a short distance from the Palestinians being targeted is unprecedented. Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch, part of the campaign group Peace Now, said settler outposts had been getting nearer to Palestinian communities since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, 'but I don't remember any others that were established so close'. 'It shows the settlers' lack of fear, and the understanding that they can do what they like; they can just set up in the Palestinian community. And they didn't come to be good neighbours,' Mizrachi added. Sabah was indicted by Israeli authorities in September for his role in an attack on a school in Mu'arrajat East, where settlers targeted teachers, a 13-year-old pupil and the principal, who was hospitalised. Shai Parnes, a spokesperson for the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, said: 'Israeli policy to take as much land as possible hasn't changed. But what has been changing under this current government is the total impunity for soldiers and settlers. 'They used to hide their faces or attack at night, everything is happening much more brutal and violent and it is happening in broad daylight. They are really proud about what they're doing, sometimes even uploading the assaults themselves to social media.' Forced displacement began before the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent ongoing Gaza war, but has intensified since then. Around 1,200 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been forced to leave 20 communities, according to figures from B'tselem. It is a second displacement for families such as Sulaiman's, who lived near what is now the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva until 1948. They were forced out in the nakba, or catastrophe, in which about 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes in 1948 after the creation of Israel. Israel's military occupation of the West Bank began in 1967. Around 500,000 Jewish Israelis live in 'over settlements', all illegal under international law. Dozens of small makeshift outposts are also illegal under Israeli law – like the one set up in Mughayyir al-Deir – but authorities rarely try to remove them. Ben Pazi set up his own farm in the area east of Ramallah in 2018 and has been involved in attacks and land grabs in the area for many years, according to the British and US governments. Most use a combination of attacks on people, destruction of property and deployment of herds of sheep and goats to graze land where Palestinians have fed their flocks for decades. The US state department said in 2024, when sanctions were imposed on Ben Pazi under the Biden administration: 'Ben Pazi has expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land. In August 2023, settlers including Ben Pazi attacked Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq.' Donald Trump lifted those sanctions. Ben Pazi's violence attracted the attention of Israel's military commander for the region, Maj Gen Yehuda Fuchs, who issued an administrative order barring Ben Pazi from entering the West Bank in late 2023. Ben Pazi's role in the campaign to force Palestinians out of Mughayyir al-Deir was unclear. He hung up when the Guardian called to ask for comment, and did not respond to further messages. The Guardian was unable to contact Sabah. Ben Pazi was a regular visitor to the new outpost, spending several hours there on at least three days this week, according to several Israeli activists who recognised him from work in the region. On one visit he was photographed greeting an unidentified man wearing a military-style uniform. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about whether the man was a member of the armed forces, and if so, whether he was at the outpost in an official or personal capacity. Ben Pazi drove a group of settlers and equipment to the edge of the village, where they started erecting a fence around land where Palestinians had lived and farmed for decades. Pardes, of B'tselem, said: 'The international community have so much more to do in terms of directing steps towards the Israeli government. 'What is happening is not just about a violent threat in this place or that; it's all part of a well-defended and subsidised policy run by the government.'
