Embassy of the State of Palestine

The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific condemns in the strongest terms the brutal terrorist attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people and their property, including the killing of a 37-year-old Palestinian man and injury of over 100 others, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces.

In the past 24 hours, Israeli settlers have been assaulting Palestinians, blocking roads, shooting live ammunition at innocent civilians, and burning dozens of cars, shops, homes, and businesses in the Palestinian village of Huwara, South of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. These violent crimes were perpetrated under the watchful protection of Israeli occupation forces, who claimed to have had insufficient personnel to prevent the attacks. It should be noted that just five days ago on 22 February 2023, Israeli occupation forces massacred ten Palestinians and injured over 100 civilians in a violent military raid into the Old City of Nablus. Furthermore, two extreme ultranationalist right-wing Israeli ministers, Itimar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom are Israeli settlers and vocally supportive of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and official annexation of the West Bank, are now responsible for the Israeli security and police forces in the West Bank.

The killing of two Israeli settlers who reside in the West Bank illegally, according to international law, is not a justification for such extreme and violent collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

According to a statement from the Palestinian Presidency: "This terrorism and whoever stands behind it aims to destroy and thwart the international efforts exerted to try to get out of the current crisis”.

The international community, including Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, must take urgent, tangible actions to exert pressure on the Israeli government to stop Israeli settlers’ terrorism against Palestinians and to protect the Palestinian people in accordance with international law and relevant UN resolutions, without further delay.

For more information, please contact the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific: ph. (02) 6286 9193.