The head of CWRC, Minister Moayyad Shaban, said that the recent settler-ignited fires east of Tulkarm constitute a continuation of the ongoing terror inflicted upon Palestinian villages an escalation that rises to the level of a holocaust unfolding before the eyes of the entire world.
Shaban added that the settlers’ crimes against unarmed civilians aim to entrench a state of forced displacement through intimidation and terror. He stressed that arson, which settlers increasingly adopt as a systematic and escalating tactic, cannot be viewed as anything other than a tool of terror meant to intimidate peaceful residents and inflict severe losses that harm the social and economic fabric of Palestinian communities.
Shaban warned that the intensified recurrence of these fires in Palestinian villages, towns, and cities—under the cover of war and emergency laws is an exposed attempt to continue emptying Palestinian geography and impose new realities through blood and fire.
Settlers set fire to four trucks belonging to the Junaidi Dairy Company, in addition to agricultural lands, tin structures, and tents belonging to a Bedouin community composed of several families. They also threw stones at residents, causing extensive material damage.
Shaban stated that data emerging from settler-militia attacks since October 7 indicate that settlers have ignited more than 700 fires during this period, in addition to the killing of 36 Palestinians by settlers’ gunfire, thousands of injuries caused by such attacks, and the displacement of dozens of Bedouin communities.
He noted that the authorities’ provision of funding, protection, and immunity to these terrorist groups reflects a blatant challenge to international laws and positions condemning the colonial-settler project and the official Israeli institutions that sponsor and feed its expansion on Palestinian land.
Shaban recalled the horrific burning of the youth Mohammad Abu Khdeir in 2014, the arson attack that killed the Dawabsheh family in 2015, and the continued attempts to commit further crimes—evidence of the fascist ideology driving these groups, which have never relinquished this mindset nor ceased attempts to burn Palestinians alive in full view of the world.
He called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and move beyond hollow statements of condemnation toward concrete action capable of putting a decisive end to these crimes.