Canadian injured in West Bank settler attack says they were beaten, passports were stolen

A canadian river activistic injured in a colonist assail o'er the weekend in a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank says she and three others were thrown on the ground and beaten by settlers before some of their wallets and passports were stolen.

The attack comes as settler violence in the occupied West Bank has seen a significant surge, with settlers setting fire to a mosque, vehicles and other property in recent weeks. Last week, Israel also launched a military operation in the city of Tubas.

The activists are working with a Palestinian group that allows foreigners to stay in communities within the West Bank where settler violence has been reported. The woman says they aim to keep watch over the villages during the day and at night, aiming to deter settler attacks through their presence.

She said they were also standing with Palestinian farmers as they harvested their olive trees because attacks have intensified in recent weeks. The territory’s annual olive harvest has gotten underway.

The activists were on night watch in the village before going to sleep at roughly 3 a.m., she said.

The woman said at around 4:30 a.m., there was a knock at the door when 10 masked settlers entered — two armed with assault rifles and others carrying clubs.

She said she began to film them but was “smacked” across the face so she put her phone away.

“They threw us to the ground and then took turns beating us,” she said.

She was kicked multiple times in the face, ribs, abdomen and in her hip and thigh area. She said another activist was beaten more severely and kicked repeatedly in the groin area.

In an email to Radio-Canada, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said it is aware of a Canadian citizen who has been injured in the West Bank.

“Canada strongly condemns the violent acts committed by extremist settlers and opposes any action or rhetoric regarding the annexation of Palestinian territories. In accordance with international law, civilians must be protected,” GAC said Monday in the statement. 

“We also reiterate our position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.”

Since May 2024, the Canadian government has sanctioned 17 individuals and seven entities for perpetrating “extremist settler violence against civilians” in the West Bank. "Through these measures, Canada aims to hold individuals and entities responsible for harmful attacks accountable and to deter future attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property," it said.

GAC said that Canadian representatives are in contact with local authorities but cannot provide further information on the incident, citing privacy considerations.

The woman alleges the settlers stole all of their possessions, including some of their passports, wallets and clothes, before leaving 15 minutes later. She said she found her passport after the attackers left.

"They said, 'You are not to come back. You are not supposed to be here,'" she said.

The group of foreign activists were then helped by locals and taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated.

Despite the attack, the woman says they want to return to the village to continue their work.

"We are terrified for the village of Duyuk, we cannot wait to go back. This has only made us stronger. We are not afraid," she said.

"This isn't about us. What happened to us, of course it was terrible, but it's nothing. It doesn't even register on the scale of what is happening to the Palestinian people every second of every minute of every day."

Aftermath of attacks on Palestinian villages

Israeli forces have been carrying out a sustained assault on northern West Bank cities since January.

Last week, United Nations human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence condemned the "unlawful use of force and ever-growing Israeli settler violence" by Israeli security forces, after video showed two men surrendering and putting their hands up before being shot and killed.

Laurence said the UN's human rights office has documented 1,030 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The number includes 223 children.

Emboldened by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government, settlers have expanded beyond the bounds of pre-existing settlements to establish new farming outposts, which they call "young settlements."

The outposts — usually little more than a few sheds and a pen for livestock — now spill down settlement hilltops toward Palestinian villages, with some settlers gaining control of the villages' agricultural land and water sources.

After the attacks

Palestinians and human rights workers accuse the Israeli army and police of failing to halt attacks by settlers. Israel's government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation's police force.

About 94 per cent of all investigation files opened by the Israeli Police into settler violence from 2005 to 2024 ended without indictment, according to monitoring by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Since 2005, just three per cent of the investigation files opened into settler violence led to full or partial convictions.

Senior Writer

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