White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said the United States is “actively engaging” with Israel following an Israeli settler attack on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank that is home to many Palestinian Americans.
During a news conference on Friday, Kirby said several US government officials met with victims of the attack in Turmus Ayya, a village near Ramallah.
On Wednesday, residents said about 400 Israeli settlers stormed the village and burned cars, houses and lots of land before Israeli forces descended on the community.
At least one Palestinian, 27-year-old Omar Qattin, a father of two who worked as an electrician in the local municipality, was killed in the violence and several others were injured.
“We’ve certainly seen reports now of US citizens … who have been victims of some violence, and we’re actively working with the Israeli government on that,” Kirby told reporters on Friday. without giving further details.
The attack in Turmus Ayya came amid a series of similar attacks on settlers near Nablus, a city in the occupied West Bank, in an apparent response to Palestinian gunmen killing four Israeli settlers near the Eli settlement.
Palestinian and international human rights groups have long criticized Israel’s failure or refusal to stop attacks on settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories.
And in recent months, they have accused key members of the Israeli government – including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – of condoning the violence.
On Thursday, Tom Nides, the US ambassador to Israel, made an unusually strong call for Israel to act to stop the attacks.
“We will not stand by and watch violence against the settlers,” Nides said during a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian youth in Tel Aviv, as reported by Israeli media.
“I am very clear and very specific that we will not stand by, and we are pushing the Israelis to take whatever action they need to take to stop the people,” he said. “At the same time, my heart breaks for the families who lost a loved one 48 hours ago. My heart breaks for all these families. “
Change the tone, but not the action
The statements represent a change of tone from the Biden administration, said Michael Omer-Man, director of research for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a US-based advocacy group. .
But meaningful action from the US is highly unlikely, he said, although targeted travel bans on Israeli citizens accused of violence may be on the table.
“I think the difference that we’re seeing here is that this administration, which is very much in denial about the conflict with Israel, has chosen Ben Gvir, Smotrich, and the kind of violent, aggressive, unapologetic movement of settlers as targets within the Israeli government that they are ready to criticize publicly,” Omer-Man told Al Jazeera.
“But if they don’t hold the broader Israeli government accountable for that, then I don’t know what it’s worth,” he said. “The level of what [the US] are willing to do, the scope of what they are willing to do, is so small, it’s hard to get hope from that.
Despite public opposition to the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, which would eat into the future Palestinian state, the Biden administration remains a staunch defender of Israel.
The US has long praised its “ironclad” relationship with the country, which receives about $3.8bn in unconditional aid from Washington each year.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government had approved 1,000 new settler homes in Eli, calling the move a “response to terrorism”.
On Friday, Israel’s National Security Minister Gvir, speaking at a settler outpost in Mount Sabih, called on the government to launch a massive military campaign in the West Bank and to expand illegal settlements. that, according to Israeli media.
That comes as United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned that violence in the West Bank “risks spiraling out of control” amid Israel’s use of heavy weapons.
After Israeli forces stormed the refugee camp in Jenin on Monday, Israel for the first time in 20 years used helicopter gunships in the occupied West Bank to attack the camp.
At least seven Palestinians, including children, were killed and 91 injured.
Turk said on Friday that the attack was a “great intensification of the use of weapons that is more related to the conduct of armed conflicts, rather than a law enforcement situation”.
Israel also conducted its first known targeted drone strike in the West Bank on Wednesday. The Israeli military said the drone killed three Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at a checkpoint north of Jenin.
