Emanuel Fabian: Israeli Settlers Beat American to Death in Illegally Occupied West Bank

Two Palestinians, one of them an American citizen, were killed by Israeli settlers during an attack in the West Bank on Friday, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, in an incident the Israeli military said was under investigation.

A spokesman for the PA’s health ministry, Annas Abu El Ezz, reported that 23-year-old Saif al-Din Kamil Abdul Karim Musalat “died after being severely beaten all over his body by settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, this afternoon.” Palestinian media said Musalat was a dual Palestinian-American citizen.

The PA’s health ministry later said a second man, 23-year-old Mohammad Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers. Both Shulabi and Musalat were identified as residents of the nearby town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.

Palestinian media reported another 10 people were injured.

The IDF said it was aware of reports that Palestinians had been killed and wounded, adding that the matter was being probed by police and the Shin Bet.

The military said the incident began after Palestinians hurled stones at Israelis near Sinjil, lightly injuring two civilians.

The ensuing “violent confrontation… included vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical clashes and rock hurling,” the IDF said.

Upon receiving reports of violence, the IDF said, troops and police officers were dispatched to the scene to “disperse the clash,” during which forces used riot dispersal means. There have been no arrests yet.

Asked for comment, the US State Department said it was “aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank.”

“We won’t comment further out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones,” said a State Department spokesperson.

According to Palestinian accounts, settlers were the ones who instigated the clash when Palestinians tried to protest the establishment of a new illegal outpost adjacent to Sinjil, one of dozens that have mushroomed across the West Bank with little to no enforcement by Israeli authorities.

A group of Palestinians had been trying to reach the hamlet of Khirbet al-Tal to protest the outpost built on the village’s land, which is located in Area B of the West Bank, where no settlements are supposed to exist.

But dozens of settlers blocked Palestinians from trying to reach Khirbet al-Tal and began attacking them, the PA’s official WAFA news site said.

Footage posted on social media shows several masked settlers arriving in a vehicle armed with sticks. Another clip shows masked settlers hurling stones at Palestinians.

According to Palestinian media, settlers smashed the windows of a Palestinian ambulance that had arrived at the scene to evacuate wounded Palestinians.

AFP footage from after the attack showed the body of Musalat, who the PA said had been beaten to death, being carried through the streets draped in a Palestinian flag and flanked by around a hundred mourners.

“The young man was injured and remained so for four hours. The army prevented us from reaching him and did not allow us to take him away,” said Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, from Musalat’s hometown of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya. “When we finally managed to reach him, he was taking his last breath.”

Dozens of Palestinians and settlers also clashed in Sinjil last week, as Palestinians were set to march there in protest of settler attacks on nearby farmland had been due to take place. Settlers accused Palestinians, including a senior PA official, of vandalizing an outpost.

Israel, which controls the West Bank, recently erected a high fence cutting off parts of Sinjil from Road 60, which runs through the territory from north to south.

Meanwhile, footage from elsewhere in the West Bank on Friday purported to show Israeli troops blocking PA municipal workers from reaching a central West Bank water pipeline that settlers had allegedly dismantled to prevent water from reaching seven Palestinian villages in the area.

While the troops in the video tell the Palestinian workers that they may not proceed, bulldozers are seen operating freely, clearing ground for Israeli settlement expansion at a nearby hilltop.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Violence in the West Bank has spiked following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. Since then, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the territory, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.

According to the PA health ministry, more than 950 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

During the same period, 53 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

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First published in Times of Israel. Included in Vox Populi for noncommercial educational purposes only.

Emanuel Fabian is The Times of Israel’s military correspondent