US Silence Despite Americans Attacked in Occupied West Bank

Israeli forces allegedly threw stun grenades at US citizens, as settlers attacked. Rise in violence follows shooting of New Jersey teacher.

Israeli violence against US citizens in the occupied West Bank intensified this week following near radio silence from Washington after Israeli forces shot a New Jersey teacher last month.

Settlers on Wednesday allegedly attacked a shepherd in the Palestinian village of Qusra, in the West Bank. After he initially drove them out, American demonstrators arrived to support the shepherd and his sheep. A handful of minutes passed before the settlers returned in with reinforcements. The Americans began to run, but the settlers caught up to them and began throwing rocks and beating them.

“I got hit back in my head really hard. It was a very large rock, and I immediately fell to the ground, because… the impact was so strong,” one of the demonstrators, who goes by the name of Loulou, told me. “I got really dizzy, and my vision went black for a few seconds, and in the meantime, they kept throwing rocks at me, and they hit my arms. They hit my back.”  

“I was so afraid that they were going to keep hitting my head and I was going to die from [a] head injury,” she continued, noting that another demonstrator, who goes by the name Percy, came over and shielded her. “So they started hitting him with sticks and with rocks. They hit him all over his body, and he took the brunt of the beat[ing], basically, for me. And so he basically saved my life.”