Violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank is set to reach record levels this year, as human rights groups warn that they are increasingly spreading into new areas of the territory.
So says the BBC in text accompanying grim imagery from the embattled region.
One of the most disturbing features is allegations of settlers taking out their nationalist fundamentalism on a donkey.
There are various versions of the hard-to-watch footage:
Al Jazeera published this one:
And the incident is recorded in the BBC’s piece on correspondent Lucy Williamson “tracking settler attacks on Palestinians, which have been observed over the last week alone”.
She notes: “Many of these attacks are not widely reported on.”
In Haaretz, Yoana Gonen writes: “Two routine incidents of settler violence have generated an unusual amount of shock among Israelis, who are normally indifferent to what is done in their name in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the first incident, a 16-year-old boy from the settlement of Avigayil was filmed hitting a Palestinian amputee on the back with an iron rod as he bent down to pick up one of his crutches. In the second case, settlers stole a donkey from a Palestinian farmer, tied it to their ATV and dragged it until it fell over and died.”
The incident, said the BBC’s Williamson, “shocked Israelis, but left Palestinians unsurprised”.
Sources: BBC, Haaretz, Al Jazeera, Clash Report
[Image: Screengrab]