US penalties aren’t stopping Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians

Biden administration has focused punishments on Israeli settlers but Palestinians on the ground have seen little change.

Haitham Kaabna and his family were terrified when dozens of Israeli settlers stormed their village of Tajamaa al-Murajaat in the occupied West Bank on October 13.

The settlers, he says, were protected by the army and carried M16 assault rifles as they attacked farmers.

For two weeks, settlers destroyed olive trees, vandalised cars and stole cattle. The violence led to the forced displacement of some 200 Palestinian families from Tajamaa al-Murajaat, in the Jordan Valley.

Kaabna stayed, until settlers entered his home on October 26 and he felt he had to flee with his family to safety.

“Maybe 40 settlers came into our house and began beating up women and children. They also hit my brother and my son, who is only about two years old,” Kaabna told Al Jazeera.