More than 100 Israeli settlers have carried out attacks in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, stopping a family escorted by the Israeli military from returning to their homes, which had been seized weeks ago by settlers.
Two houses belonging to the al-Tubasi family in Jalud, south of Nablus, were set on fire in the raid on Monday night and Israeli security forces were also targeted by settlers. Human rights groups say the events show how Israeli authorities are failing to take effective action against settler violence.
“It was extremely terrifying, beyond words. It’s hard to imagine the situation,” Mahmoud al-Tubasi told the BBC.
“My feeling now is that I am happy to have escaped death. I genuinely expected they were going to kill us.”
Al-Tubasi, 60, his wife Aida, 51, and their 33-year-old son, Wael, had returned to their properties accompanied by Israeli forces after Israel’s High Court ruled earlier this month that they must be allowed to go back.
The family was forced to leave this summer after weeks of settler harassment and attacks. Extremist settlers had set up an illegal outpost close to Jalud and besieged three houses, including two belonging to the al-Tubasis’ sons who are married with young daughters.
Al-Tubasi said that he was called at about midnight and told that there was coordination with Israel’s military for his family to go back to their houses. He received a message from Israeli officials saying that if he wanted to reclaim his property he had to go immediately with the army and Israeli border police.
By torchlight, the family inspected one home. A video shared with the BBC shows that the settlers had already extensively damaged it – smashing holes through doors, tearing out electrical fittings, ripping up tiles, breaking windows and leaving rubbish strewn about. The toilet was smashed and appeared to be full of human waste.
A large number of extremist settlers arrived in Jalud after alerts were posted in WhatsApp groups they use to coordinate action, saying that the Palestinian family they had forced out was returning and should be stopped.
“As soon as we entered the house, which had already been completely destroyed, settlers started throwing stones at us. The army responded by firing tear gas at them, but there were so many settlers, more than 150, that the army could no longer control them,” al-Tubasi told the BBC.
The grandfather says that a group of Israeli soldiers protected his family from the settlers who tried to approach them, using pepper spray to force them back. Settlers slashed the tyres of a military van they were put in and then they were transferred to an armoured military vehicle.
As the family was being driven away, the settlers set fire to their car and both of their houses. Video shot from a distance shows smoke billowing from them.
Al-Tubasi says that the Israeli security forces “essentially formed a barrier, took us out safely and got us away from there. But they did not take any action against the settlers themselves.”
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said that “more than 100 Israeli rioters were present in the village, blocking roads, setting tyres on fire, and throwing stones at security forces.”
The Israeli military said that three police officers were lightly injured and a security forces vehicle was damaged. It described the Tubasi family as victims of “nationalist crime” adding that “due to the violence, the mission to return the family to their home was not completed.”
The head of the local council in Jalud told reporters that residents had confronted the settlers leading to clashes which even spread to a nearby village, where a Palestinian woman was assaulted by settlers and her house set ablaze.
One month ago, Aida al-Tubasi was attacked by masked Israeli settlers and injured along with American journalists who were interviewing her in Jalud.
The high court decision, which criticised Israeli authorities for failing to crack down on settler violence, ruled that the family should be safely returned home by 20 September – more than a week ago.
The legal ruling was strongly worded describing Israeli settlers’ actions as “a completely unacceptable phenomenon that stands in contrast to the basic values and moral principles of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he strongly condemned the attacks on security forces, calling on law enforcement, “to prosecute the rioters to the fullest extent of the law.” Israeli police said that they had arrested three people suspected of being involved in the attacks.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly last week, Netanyahu dismissed international concerns about settler violence. He accused the media of ignoring attacks on Jewish Israelis and covering “a handful of juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees, occasionally they light some fires.”
According to the Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, fewer than three per cent of police investigations into settler violence over the last two decades have led to a conviction.
Ziv Stahl, its executive director, said the lack of effective law enforcement was because, “the violence is part of a systematic government policy aimed at pushing Palestinians out of the area and expanding Israeli control over land in the West Bank”.
Netanyahu’s government has overseen a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank claiming biblical and legal rights to the land. Some ministers have said they aim to “bury the idea” that an independent Palestinian state could be set up in the territory along with East Jerusalem and Gaza. Settlements and outposts are illegal under international law.
Levels of settler violence have reached an all-time high this year, according to the United Nations, which says that since 2023, more than 6,500 Palestinians have been displaced due to settler attacks and access restrictions in the occupied West Bank.
In the same time period, the UN’s Humanitarian Office (OCHA) has logged 6,199 attacks by Israeli settlers causing casualties or damage.
According to OCHA, at least 82 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank this year and four Israelis have been killed – members of the security forces and civilians. At least 23 Palestinians were killed in the context of settler attacks.
