Israeli activists injured protecting West Bank Palestinians

At least five Israeli activists were injured last week after settlers forced them from Jannatah, near Bethlehem, where they had gone to help protect a Palestinian family.

About 30 activists, many of them religious Jews, travelled to the occupied West Bank to build a protective fence around the Faraj family home and clear road obstacles. They later found their cars vandalised, with smashed windows and punctured tyres.

When activists confronted the settlers, two cars carrying reinforcements arrived and the visitors were attacked with stones and pepper spray. An AFP journalist was hit in the chin with a stick.

Ziva Sharp said her Jewish faith motivated her to join the effort, describing it as a commitment to a humanistic Judaism. The activists are part of Bnei Avraham, or Children of Abraham, a movement of religious Jews that says faith obliges them to oppose injustices against Palestinians.

The Faraj family has faced pressure from Jewish extremists, AFP reported. Mohammed Faraj was killed in clashes with settlers in March and several relatives were wounded. His brother Hassan told AFP that nobody had been arrested over the killing.

The activists said the nearby Kochav Yehuda outpost had been dismantled 64 times by Israeli authorities and rebuilt each time, most recently the day before their visit.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and which is home to about three million Palestinians. AFP reported that violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers has increased since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel from Gaza.