World News
Israeli settler attacks target Palestinian factories in West Bank
Local business owners and officials report an increase in attacks on industrial sites and farmland aimed at crippling the local economy.
The short version
- Incidents of vandalism and arson by Israeli settlers have increasingly targeted Palestinian industrial facilities and agricultural land across Areas B and C of the West Bank.
- Business owners in locations such as Ein Siniya and as-Samu report hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage, threatening local livelihoods.
- Economists and Palestinian officials warn that the systematic attacks aim to force Palestinians off the land by causing severe economic disruption amidst an existing 29 percent unemployment rate.
Key facts
- A fire near the al-Omari aluminium facility in Ein Siniya burned roughly 50 dunams (12.3 acres) of olive trees and damaged the factory yard.[Al Jazeera]
- The owner of the Ein Siniya site stated that a late July attack on a stone crusher caused an estimated $700,000 in losses.[Al Jazeera]
- An industrial facility owner in as-Samu reported that an August 21 assault by roughly 30 settlers destroyed heavy machinery and threatened the livelihoods of 55 people.[Al Jazeera]
- The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recorded 798 settler attacks in July, including 440 property damage incidents and the destruction or theft of thousands of trees.[Al Jazeera]
What remains uncertain
- Israeli military and law enforcement authorities have not publicly confirmed or commented on allegations that soldiers prevented residents from extinguishing the Ein Siniya fire.[Al Jazeera]