Sheffield Palestine campaigners condemn West Bank killings near twin city
Palestine campaigners have spoken out against Israeli killings in villages around Sheffield’s twin city of Nablus.
Six Palestinians and two Israelis died following confrontations between illegal settlers and villagers in the rural communities of Beit Furik and Tell last week.
Nablus has been placed under a military lockdown following the killings. Israeli military checkpoints have sealed all main entrances and exits to the city, preventing Palestinian residents from entering or leaving.
The reactions of Israeli government ministers in support of settler incursions into villages have fuelled fears of a dramatic escalation against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.
Sheffield Nablus Twinning Association secretary Julie Pearn said: “The genocidal intentions of the Israeli state in the West Bank have never been clearer. Since October 2023, 1,182 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by settlers or the state and about 24,000 have been arrested, many facing imprisonment without charge and torture.
“Illegal occupiers, so-called settlers, rampage with automatic weapons, often supported by Israeli forces, burning homes and crops, stealing livestock and murdering Palestinian farmers who show any resistance.
Abandoned
“Sometimes villages have been completely razed, as in the now largely abandoned town of Huwara south of Nablus, or the Christian village of Taybeh.
“The international community must act urgently for the protection of Palestinian civilian lives, accountability for these attacks, and an end to the ongoing violence.”
Amjad Refaie, a community leader from new Askar refugee camp in Nablus who has visited Sheffield, said on Friday: “Across Palestine, thousands of students are receiving their high school examination results, celebrating years of hard work, perseverance and dreams for a brighter future.
“But in Palestine, joy is too often overshadowed by grief.”
Impunity
He added: “The Palestinian people are not asking for special privileges. They are asking for their fundamental rights: the right to live, the right to safety, the right to education, and the right to celebrate life as every other people in the world do.
“Continued impunity only fuels further violence. Silence in the face of these crimes allows them to continue.
“We call on the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities by taking concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, stop settler violence and ensure accountability for those responsible.”