Massive Arson Attack by Israeli Settlers in West Bank’s Al-Bireh

A group of illegal Israeli settlers launched a massive arson attack in Al-Bireh city, in the central occupied West Bank in the early hours of Monday, November 4. The attackers set a number of cars parked in front of a residential building on fire as Palestinian citizens inside the building were sleeping.

The settlers also fired live ammunition on residents, who came down from their apartments to stop the attack and attempted to extinguish the fire. The settlers then reportedly attempted to obstruct Palestinian firefighters from reaching the area under threat of gunpoint. Around 20 cars were destroyed in the brutal arson attack, which put the lives of dozens of Palestinians in imminent danger.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday condemning the attack, “calling for comprehensive sanctions targeting the entire settler-colonial system, holding all entities responsible for promoting or engaging in settler terrorism and systematic land annexation against the Palestinian people.”

Condemning the escalation of settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, the United States State Department urged Israel on Monday to take action to stop such incidents. The State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters: “It is critical that the Government of Israel deter extremist settler violence and take the necessary measures to protect all communities from harm in accordance with its international obligations.”

“This includes intervening, preventing, and stopping such violence. It is also the responsibility of the relevant authorities to do everything in their power to calm tensions and hold all perpetrators of violence against civilians equally accountable, regardless of the background of the perpetrator or victim,” Miller added.

Peoples Dispatch visited one of the residential buildings affected by the attack and spoke to Palestinian residents living there.

One of the Palestinian citizens, who lives in the besieged neighborhood, told Peoples Dispatch that the settler attacks on the vehicles of Palestinians are far from an aberration, and have taken place for years during the winter months. He added that the Palestinian residents of that neighborhood have to replace the tires of their vehicles four to five times each year, as Israeli settlers frequently puncture them.

In response to these incessant attacks, the residents of the neighborhood had installed flood lights as a precautionary measure, which prevented settlers from attacking the area for a while. However, that measure was not enough to deter Monday’s massive attack.

The Palestinian man, who gave this testimony, asserted that such incidents will never intimidate Palestinians, and will never succeed in forcing them to leave their country, despite the high price they have been paying for the sake of their homeland. He also said that the Palestinian people would pay an even higher price to defend Palestine.

Another female resident described the horrific and traumatizing experience that she, her husband, and young children went through in a matter of minutes, during which the flames broke out and reached the windows of upper storeys of the building.

“If I did not close the shutters, turn off the main electrical circuit breaker, and seal the gas cylinder immediately, the fire would have broken into the house and posed a real threat to our lives,” the Palestinian woman said.

She recounted that while the Palestinian firefighters managed to evacuate residents of the building and extinguish the fire, their efforts were initially thwarted by Israeli settlers who temporarily prevented them from going to the site under gunpoint.

Three children, who reside in the building, gave their testimonies to Peoples Dispatch as well, expressing the sentiments of fear that they felt during the attack, and their constant fear due to living under the Israeli occupation.

A 12-year-old girl, stated that she has always felt insecure at her home, comparing her life to people living in other countries, where they enjoy safety and security. The girl said that she has always felt afraid that any member of her family would be killed in an attack launched by settlers.

The other two children described how they woke up trembling after hearing the sound of cars exploding due to the arson attack. They also spoke about their fear when they heard the settlers’ gunfire, fearing that their father had been shot.

Settlers’ terrorist attacks before October 7

The arson attack on Al-Bireh is not a rare occurrence for Palestinians in the West Bank. Such sabotage incidents have taken place almost daily over the past several decades as the territorial expanse of the West Bank has been fractured and fragmented with Israeli illegal settlements which surround Palestinian towns and villages from all directions.

Settlers have for decades carried out violence and sabotage against Palestinians with the goal of uprooting them from their homeland. Settler violence against Palestinians can range from physical and verbal assaults, looting of corpses, obstructing Palestinians from reaching their lands, cutting down their olive trees during the harvest season, and killing their livestock. Settlers have also written racist slogans on the walls of Islamic and Christian holy sites in their crusades against Palestinian communities. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 1,400 incidents of settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank were recorded in the last year.

In 2014, a 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammad Khdeir was kidnapped by a group of Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem, and then taken to a forest where he was beaten and burned alive.

One year later, three members of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family were burned to death after Israeli settlers set the family’s house on fire in the village of Duma, in the Nablus governorate. An 18-month-old baby was burned alive along with his parents. His brother Ahmad survived but sustained severe burns in 60% of his body including his face.

The recurring incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank directly contradicts Israeli narratives that the situation was fine before October 7 and that Palestinian resistance groups based in the besieged Gaza Strip are the main obstacle to achieving peace. For decades, Israeli propaganda has worked relentlessly to cover up the terrorism, violence, and brutality perpetrated by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and illegal settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in addition to the IOF’s frequent aggressions and continuous siege of the Gaza strip.