Extremist Israeli settlers assault, chase Palestinian shepherds in Jordan Valley
Jordan Valley (QNN)- A group of extremist Israeli settlers assaulted and chased Palestinian shepherds in Khillet Makhoul in the northern Jordan Valley earlier on Tuesday.
Since the early morning hours of Tuesday, a group of extremist Israeli settlers have been chasing Palestinian shepherds, local sources said, pointing out that the settlers sprayed one of the shepherds with pepper gas and kicked them out of the pastures.
The Jordan Valley is home to approximately 60,000 Palestinians, but nearly 90 percent of the land is part of the so-called Area C, the three-fifths of the West Bank that is under complete Israeli control.
It includes closed military areas and about 50 Israeli settlement outposts housing some 12,000 colonial Israeli settlers.
There has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territories, however, investigations into them have not been carried out even though some have resulted in fatalities and injuries.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the number of violent incidents perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has risen dramatically in the past two years.
In the first half of 2021, 416 anti-Palestinian incidents were reported – more than double the figure for the first half of 2020 and more than all of 2019
There are nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers living in 256 illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
