Settler attacks human rights defenders Israel
Human Rights Defenders sent Mondoweiss the video below and the account that follows. Badia Dwaik says that the video depicts a settler attacking a resident of Hebron and the soldiers taking the settler's side, and arresting two teenagers. Dwaik reports that no one was injured by the soldiers' shots.


"We live in this house near the Ibrahimi Mosque for 20 years," said Malika Qafisha, 38, a mother of six. "We face daily harassment after the closure of most of the streets in Hebron after the martyrs from the massacre of the Ibrahimi Mosque [in 1994].

"We live in this part known as 'easy' life; although it is very complex. We continue to challenge the conditions of our oppression as a result of settlers' colonization and the prevention of the entry of Palestinian people into our region on the grounds that they are not residents of the area; at a time when pro-Zionist come to support the settlers from different regions, especially in America."

"Many individual Palestinian families have fled because they could not live in these circumstances. Our lives have become unbearable after the settlers violently moved into our area with the protection of the Israeli army. We are subjected to repeated attacks on us at home and the settlers through rocks to break the glass of our houses."

"However, this day, 4/28/2018, was the most violent and most terrifying; since the Jewish settlers violently harassed us and instead of the army to protect us from them, they fired their weapon causing fear in our children."

Malika Qafisha said that some of the neighbors intervened to help stop the settlers' attack. They told the Israeli army what was happening, but the Israeli army attacked them and arrested two young men, Shawqi Maswadeh and Mosaeb Jaber.

Then the Israeli army opened fire in a frightening way.

The families can't sleep sometimes because of their fear and their traumatic dreams as a result of what they have seen in their daily lives. "Every day I worry about the lives of my children," Malika Qafisha said. "We do not think of leaving this house, despite all the dangers we face. The Jewish settlers often chant, 'We will force you out of the house.' We have the right to live in our home, one of the most basic human rights in any part of the world.

Jaber was later released. Maswadeh is still being held. Next door to the Jaber house, settlers have taken over another house.
Badee Dwaik is the Coordinator of Human Rights Defenders Group in Palestine and an activist in Hebron.