Revenge of the settlers - Features - Al Jazeera English
►http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/03/201234124517796189.html
A report published in January by the Washington-based Palestine Center revealed a 39 per cent increase in the number of settler attacks - from stone-throwing to arson and shootings - between 2010 and 2011.
Furthermore, in the five-year period between 2007 and 2011, the occupied West Bank has witnessed a 315 per cent increase in settler attacks - while, over the same period, there has been a 95 per cent decrease in Palestinian violence against Israeli settlements and settlers.
The report found “over 90 per cent of all the Palestinian villages which have experienced multiple instances of Israeli settler violence are in areas which fall under Israeli security jurisdiction”.
“The violence scares the Palestinians into not moving around or using their land for farming and agriculture,” he said.
Olive harvest reaps animosity in the West Bank
Further OCHA statistics also state approximately 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees were damaged or destroyed by settlers in 2011, while 139 Palestinians were displaced due to settler attacks.
The UN group also found that “80 communities with a combined population of nearly 250,000 Palestinians are vulnerable to settler violence, including 76,000 who are at high-risk”.