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A30 world news
Diasabra 11 september 2021

Palestinian teen describes brutal attack by Israeli settlers

(AP) — More than two weeks after the about five minutes, back up the hill, before
attack, Tareq Zubeidi still spends most the car came to a sudden halt, sending him
of his time in bed, too scared to leave tumbling to the ground. “Then they started
home even if the wounds on his feet al- to hit me, spit on me and swear at me,” he
lowed him to walk normally. said.

The 15-year-old is haunted by the memory He said the settlers tied him to a tree and
of what he describes as a brutal attack by whipped him with a belt. Then they took
Israeli settlers, who he says beat him with him down, cut his legs with a knife and
clubs, tied him to a tree and burned the burned the soles of his feet with a car ciga-
soles of his feet. rette lighter. In the end, they hit him over
the head with a club, knocking him uncon-
“When I sit by myself I start thinking about scious, he said.
all of them, and then I start sweating and
my heart rate starts to increase,” Zubeidi When he came to, he was in an army jeep
said. with an Israeli soldier who he says imme-
diately began threatening him. “He told me
While there were no witnesses to corrobo- that if anything happens in the settlement
rate Zubeidi’s account, the Aug. 17 incident we will arrest you, and if there is any stone-
took place in an area that sees frequent vio- throwing, you will take full responsibility,”
lence between hard-line Jewish settlers and Zubeidi said.
local Palestinians.
His father, Abdul Razek Zubeidi, said his
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group son was taken to a hospital that afternoon
that monitors settler violence, said it was and spent the night there. A medical re-
not able to verify all the details of Tareq’s port said he had bruising on his shoulder
account but that “it is clear that the boy was and cuts on his feet. Photos taken shortly
physically and mentally abused.” after the incident appear to show two dark
wounds on the soles of his feet.
The group documented at least seven set-
tler attacks on Palestinians and their prop- Abdul Razek Zubeidi said he immediately
erty in the area around Zubeidi’s village in reported the incident to the Palestinian
the last two years. It says that when the Is- police, who said they contacted the Israeli
raeli military intervenes, it often sides with army. Abdul Razek said he has heard noth-
the settlers. The Palestinians claim the West ing from Israeli authorities. The family says
Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mid- it has not filed a complaint to Israeli police,
east war, as the main part of a future inde- fearing it would be a waste of time.
pendent state.
Palestinians in the West Bank live under Is-
The Israeli military says troops were dis- raeli military law, giving them few avenues
patched to Homesh, a nearby settlement for legal recourse, while the nearly 500,000
that was forcefully evacuated in 2005, af- Jewish settlers in the territory have full Is-
ter reports of Palestinians throwing rocks. raeli citizenship.
When the soldiers arrived they found set-
tlers chasing a Palestinian teenager who was Homesh was one of four settlements in
later returned to his family, the military said the West Bank that were evacuated as part
in a statement. of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
in 2005. But settlers from another nearby
Settler groups with links to Homesh de- settlement still go the hilltop to study and
clined to comment or said they were un- pray, according to Israeli media.
aware of the incident.
In addition to the more than 130 settle-
Zubeidi said he and some friends took ments authorized by Israel, there are doz-
some snacks up to the hilltop where the ens of unauthorized settlement outposts.
settlement once stood and found a place to Israel is reluctant to evacuate them because
relax. At around 9:30 a.m. they heard peo- doing so risks igniting clashes between set-
ple shouting in Hebrew and looked up to tlers and soldiers.
see a small group of settlers coming toward
them. The Palestinians and most of the interna-
tional community view all settlements as a
He denied he or his friends threw rocks, violation of international law, as well as an
saying “I don’t know anything about that.” obstacle to peace, because they threaten the
territorial contiguity and viability of any fu-
Instead, he said, they fearfully ran down the ture Palestinian state.
hill toward their village of Silat al-Dhahr.
Zubeidi said an earlier knee injury slowed The U.N. envoy to the Middle East, Tor
him down, allowing another group of set- Wennesland, raised Tareq’s case at a meet-
tlers in a car to catch up with him and knock ing of the Security Council last month, de-
him over as he descended the gravely street scribing the incident as a “heinous act” and
that connects Homesh with the main road. calling on Israeli authorities to hold the per-
petrators accountable.
“Four settlers got out of the car and there
were two others who were traveling by Tareq’s mother, Hanan Zubeidi, fears it
foot,” he said. “One of them had a gun.” could have been much worse.

The settlers beat him with wooden clubs “Imagine, my son tells me that he was beat-
before blindfolding him and tying him to en up by them,” she said. “I did not expect
the hood of the car, he said. They drove for to see him alive.”