Hebron: Ground Zero for Israeli Settler Violence

It's Monday and, like most days ending in the letter "y," this means there have been acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians or their property in the West Bank. To state that these events happen on a daily basis is no exaggeration. In fact, a query of our settler violence database reveals that there were 629 events last year alone (an average of 1.7 attacks per day).

Today was no exception to the rule. Maan News Agency reported that "A 32-year-old from the south Hebron hills told Ma'an he was stabbed in the chest on Monday by settlers from the Ma'on settlement." Within minutes another story came over the wire; this one reporting that "Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery."

Both of these attacks today took place in the governorate of Hebron in the West Bank. This district is the epicenter of Israeli settler violence and usually accounts for more settler attacks than any of the West Bank's 9 other districts. In our database, out of the approximately 3,000 settler violence events recorded, Hebron has been the locale of 31% of the events. While trends in the past couple years have indicated a shift to the north, with more and more settler violence occurring in and around Nablus and Qalqilya, Hebron continues to see more than its share of settler violence when compared to other districts. Interestingly, the settler population in Hebron is relatively low compared to other districts. So a relatively small number of settlers account for the single highest number of attacks in any governorate. One reason for this is the unique location of certain settlements in Hebron, which include a settler population right in the heart of the Old City of Hebron that is responsible for regular violence against the Palestinian population there. Our database indicates that in the Old City of Hebron alone over the past 6 years, there have been 451 different acts of settler violence which include over 165 instances of stone throwing, over 116 physical attacks and assaults, over 30 instances of arson, over 45 instances of destruction of property, and 15 vehicular attacks which resulted in the injuring of 218 people.

But that's just in the city of Hebron. An almost equal amount of settler violence events (460) occurred inside of the governorate, but outside of the city, like the two attacks that took place today where settlers attacked Palestinians in Beit Ummar in the north of the governorate and in the Yatta area in the south. Attacks on these areas are not rare. The single village of Beit Ummar has seen at least 21 attacks in the period covered by our data, resulting in 11 injuries and one death, mostly from vehicular attacks. The area south of Yatta faces a barrage of attacks from two particularly active settlements in settler violence: Sussia and Ma'on. Combined, settlers originating from these two settlements accounted for 77 attacks, resulting in the injury of 72 civilians and inestimable damage to property.

In the north of the district, like today's attack in Beit Ummar, settlers tend to take advantage of the roads and utilize shoot-and-run tactics, or simply run over civilians with their vehicles. In the city of Hebron, attacks are far more inter-personal because of the proximity between settlers and Palestinian civilians. This is why stone throwing and beatings are so common. Often, these attacks happen under the watch of Israeli soldiers in the city. Attacks in the south, like today's attack south of Yatta, tend focus on isolated areas or villages, and targets are often schools, children or shepherds and their sheep grazing in rural areas.

While settler violence is present in all corners of the West Bank, today's attacks highlight the particular and unique challenge faced by Palestinian civilians in the district of Hebron, which face a disproportionate number of attacks from Israeli settlers on a consistent basis.

For a complete analysis of our settler violence data, check out our upcoming event on settler violence on April 19th. You can attend in person here at the Palestine Center in Washington or watch the live webcast.

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