Rights group says only 1 in 10 ideologically-motivated Israeli attackers faces indictment

An Israeli rights group says the Tel Aviv regime authorities have only filed indictments for about one in 10 ideologically-motivated assaults carried out by Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

In an annual report published on Sunday, Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights said it had monitored 225 investigation files since the beginning of 2014 until the end of August last year in the occupied West Bank, adding that of the 185 files processed by prosecution authorities only 21 had resulted in indictments, an 11.4-percent rate.

Although the figures marked a rise over previous years, the rights group said its findings still revealed that Tel Aviv “fails to fulfill its duty to guarantee the safety of the Palestinian public in the occupied territories.”

Yesh Din concluded that police failure in handling such cases had prompted Palestinians to increasingly refrain from turning to police.

Most of the attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property are met with impunity, with those guilty rarely facing consequences for such actions.

Other rights groups, including B’Tselem, have on several occasions slammed the regime in Tel Aviv for its failure in protecting Palestinians from settler violence or investigate attacks.

PressTV-Video: Israeli settlers stealing Palestinian olive harvest

Israeli settlers are caught on camera vandalizing Palestinian farms in the occupied West Bank and stealing their olive harvest.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015. More than 350 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October the same year.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Built on occupied land, the settlements are internationally condemned as illegal.

Moreover, the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip has been the scene of tensions since December 6, when US President Donald Trump announced in a dramatic policy shift that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel.

The declaration angered Palestinians and triggered warnings across the world. The UN resoundingly rejected that policy shift in a General Assembly vote. At least 14 Palestinians have so far been killed by Israeli forces during angry demonstrations and clashes.

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