State-backed Israeli settler violence forces West Bank displacement: HRW

State-backed Israeli settler violence forces West Bank displacement: HRWHuman Rights Watch calls for sanctions and the suspension of military aid to Israel, as dozens of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of erasure.Dozens of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank are at risk of erasure due to escalating attacks by Israeli settlers, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.Increased settler attacks, along with the rapid expansion of Israeli settlements illegal under international law, are driving a wave of forced displacement of Palestinians, the US-based rights group said in a report released on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Israeli settler children attack ambulance in occupied West Banklist 2 of 3Palestine weekly: Global outcry fails to break West Bank siegelist 3 of 3Palestinians, UK condemn Israel’s ‘destructive’ E1 settlement planend of listThe report accuses Israeli authorities of arming, funding and granting impunity to settlers to carry out the attacks.Israeli settler violence has been growing since the current government took office in December 2022.But attacks spiked in the first two months of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with killings including those of children, assaults, sexual violence, physical and mental abuse, arbitrary detention, arson, property demolition and theft among the reported abuses, the report adds.Maximum land and minimum Palestinians“The Israeli government and the settlers share the same goal of maximum land and minimum Palestinians, with the authorities not only failing to stop settler violence, but actively enabling it,” Sarah Sanbar, the acting Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.“Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, the legal cover, and the budget to do it,” she added.HRW investigated settler attacks in seven Palestinian West Bank communities in April and May, including Al-Mughayyir, Mikhmas and Taybeh, in Ramallah governorate; Jalud and Qaryut, in Nablus governorate; and Khirbet Hamsa and Muarrajat East, in the Jordan Valley.