Above Photo: Palestinians demonstrate in Sakhnin. Wafa.
Israel released all eight settlers accused of the violence in Nablus on Sunday within hours of their arrest.
At least one Palestinian died and close to 400 were wounded in the Israeli settler violence.
Thousands of Palestinians in Israel took to the streets on Tuesday, February 28, to denounce the attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian homes and properties in Nablus on Sunday. At least one person was killed in the attacks and around 400 others were wounded.
Palestinian gathered in the north Israeli town of Sakhnin following a call by the Arab Higher Follow Up Committee, an umbrella organization of Arab groups in Israel.
They called the attack on Palestinians a “pogrom” and accused Israeli occupation forces of being participants in the attack.
Palestinians marched this evening in the occupied city of Sakhnin in support of the residents of Huwara town in Nablus, after settlers carried out a deadly pogrom there. pic.twitter.com/AYFk7BbZBZ
— PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) February 28, 2023
A similar protest held in solidarity with the Palestinian victims in Tel Aviv was suppressed by the Israeli security forces, who detained protestors and resorted to the use of force to disperse them.
Israeli forces suppress a solidarity protest held in Tel Aviv in support of the residents of Hawara town in Nablus, a night after settlers carried out a deadly pogrom there. pic.twitter.com/OPu7QEV9Df
— PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) February 27, 2023
A statement issued by the protestors said, “We are facing a difficult test in which we have to show loyalty to our roots, our sons and our Palestinian people, ready to confront the injustice, arson, murder and defiling of the holy places,” Wafa reported.
By Tuesday, Israel had already released all eight persons arrested for the attacks on Huwara. According to a report in the Times of Israel, three of the eight were sent to “house arrest” and five were released. Palestinians have also claimed that settler violence has not ended after Huwara with reports of fresh attacks on Tuesday as well.
On Sunday, hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers attacked several towns in and around Nablus city, including in Huwara in the occupied West Bank. They reportedly beat Palestinians up and burnt homes and other property. Despite being present in large numbers, Israeli security forces did not try to stop the violence.
In a special closed door meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, member countries called for immediate de-escalation of the situation in the occupied West Bank and reiterated the call for an immediate stoppage of all “unilateral actions.”
The UNSC meeting was called for by Palestine and was formally convened at the request of the UAE, the representative of the Arab countries in the body. This has been the third such meeting since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra right-wing government came to power in Israel in November last year.
Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour, speaking outside the meeting, reminded the UNSC that it “has a responsibility to shoulder, especially with regards to… taking steps to provide protection to the civilian population, especially after the criminal and terrorist act by settlers in Huwara and nearby villages,” National News reported.