Charred homes and cars dotting this hilltop village surrounded by olive groves are a searing reminder of Palestinians’ vulnerability to rising violence from Israeli settlers.
The trail of wreckage along Duma’s main road is the aftermath of a three-hour attack in mid-April that left 15 homes damaged by arson and six residents injured by bullets, the head of its village council said. It was one of nearly 800 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, according to the U.N.
The burnt remains in Duma also highlight the village’s limited resources to clean up and rebuild, let alone defend itself from future incursions, which seem inevitable as gun-toting settlers patrol the area roughly 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Jerusalem.
“We as the village of Duma … do not have the power to defend ourselves,” said Suleiman Dawabsha, chairman of the village council for this community of more than 2,000 people. He estimated the attack caused five million shekels ($1.3 million) in damage.
Do Palestinians have a right to defend themselves and should we be sending them defensive weapons like missiles and attack helicopters for free for some reason?
From a practical sense, they don’t. The IDF has a history of protecting violent settlers who attack Palestinians and will attack those Palestinians if they try to defend themselves.
The US would absolutely not send defensive weapons to Palestinians. The US government is too close to the Israeli government.
Even at this moment the US says they don’t approve of how Israel is waging this war, while they’re using weapons the US sent them…