He struck me, then cried wolf: Israeli settler impunity in Masafer Yatta
Muhammad Huraini suffers a bloody nose after he was hit in the face with a rock by Israeli settlers
Mohammad Huraini writes in Mondoweiss on 7 December 2024:
Mohammad Huraini is a resident of Masafer Yatta, an area in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank home to some 1,000 Palestinians. Masafer Yatta has been the target of Israeli military and settler violence as well as relentless Israeli home demolitions for decades in an effort to ethnically cleanse the area to pave the way for settlement expansion.
November 23, 2024 was marked by terror and violence for my family. That day, we were violently attacked by Israeli settlers, only for Israeli occupation forces to raid our home shortly afterward and arrest my father while my cousin and I were at the hospital for medical treatment. After attacking and wounding us, the settlers accused us of being the ones who tried to harm them — a pattern of Israeli aggression and claiming victimization we Palestinians are unfortunately all too familiar with.
That Saturday afternoon, I was in my house in the village of at-Tuwani, one of several villages in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank. I received an urgent phone call from a neighbor, who informed me that two Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on were approaching our property. I immediately looked up to see them descending the hill heading toward our house. My father, my brother Sami, my cousin, and I all rushed to confront the settlers and prevent them from getting any closer to our home.
As I reached for my phone to document the situation, one of the settlers unexpectedly struck Sami in the stomach. At the same moment, a settler threw a stone, hitting me directly in the face. My phone fell from my hand and blood began to pour from my nose. The pain was so intense that I was unable to see clearly for several moments.
Despite the pain and disorientation, I mustered the strength to bend down and retrieve my phone. As I got up, another stone flew past me, narrowly missing my head. The situation was chaotic.