A West Bank village feels helpless after Israeli settlers attack with fire and bullets

[David__77]

DUMA, West Bank -- Charred homes and cars dotting this hilltop village surrounded by olive groves are a searing reminder of Palestinians' vulnerability to rising violence from Israeli settlers.

The trail of wreckage along Duma's main road is the aftermath of a three-hour attack in mid-April that left 15 homes damaged by arson and six residents injured by bullets, the head of its village council said. It was one of nearly 800 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, according to the U.N.

The burnt remains in Duma also highlight the village's limited resources to clean up and rebuild, let alone defend itself from future incursions, which seem inevitable as gun-toting settlers patrol the area roughly 20 miles north of Jerusalem.

“We as the village of Duma ... do not have the power to defend ourselves,” said Suleiman Dawabsha, chairman of the village council for this community of more than 2,000 people. He estimated the attack caused five million shekels ($1.3 million) in damage.

…

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/wireStory/west-bank-village-feels-helpless-after-israeli-settlers-110096513

[Lonestarblue]

1. Every West Bank settlement by Israelis is illegal under international law.

But world leaders, including the US, have turned a blind eye to these illegalities for decades. That deference needs to stop.

[David__77]

2. It is insane that it is allowed under US law for US citizens to buy and live in those outposts.

[Lonestarblue]

3. The UN and the ICJ have condemned Israel's actions, but nothing has ever been done.

I suspect the only way to stop these illegal settlements and the willful murders of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is for individual countries to levy economic sanctions.

From Wikipedia:

“In 2004, an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel had breached its obligations under international law by establishing settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and that Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defence or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of imposing a régime, which is contrary to international law. In its 2004 advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory it states, at paragraph 120, that Article 49(6) "prohibits not only deportations or forced transfers of population…but also any measures taken by an occupying Power in order to organize or encourage transfers of parts of its own population into the occupied territory." All 13 judges were unanimous on the point.[44] The Court also concluded that the Israeli régime violates the basic human rights of the Palestinians by impeding the liberty of movement of the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (with the exception of Israeli citizens) and their exercise of the right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living.[45][o]”