Two Palestinian citizens were injured on Friday evening as they tried to fend off an attack by illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers on the Ma’azi Jaba’ community, north of occupied Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Governorate reported that groups of colonizers invaded the area and set fire to one of the residential structures. Residents rushed to put out the flames, managing to stop the fire before it reached nearby homes.
The Governorate said the assault is part of a steady and deliberate pattern of colonizer violence aimed at tightening pressure on Palestinian communities in the Jerusalem periphery, ultimately pushing them toward coerced displacement.
Friday’s attack on Ma’azi Jaba’ fits into a broader surge in colonizer violence across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. Among the incidents reported:
- Agricultural land burned and shepherding communities harassed east of Ramallah.
- Stone‑throwing and armed assaults on Palestinian vehicles on roads near Jerusalem, Nablus, and Hebron.
- Land‑seizure attempts around small Bedouin and rural communities through fencing, military roadblocks, and intimidation.
- Night‑time attacks on isolated communities, often carried out while Israeli soldiers are present in the area.
Human rights groups note that colonizer violence has risen sharply since late 2023. They point out that these attacks often take place in areas already facing demolition orders, movement restrictions, or military roadblocks, creating a layered system of pressure that makes daily life increasingly difficult for Palestinian residents.
Ma’azi Jaba’, like many small communities around Jerusalem, has endured repeated invasions, property damage, and ongoing threats from colonizer groups.
Residents say the attacks tend to intensify whenever Israeli authorities move ahead with plans to expand nearby colonies or tighten restrictions on Palestinian construction.
International humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into occupied territory or forcibly displacing protected persons.
Human rights organizations argue that the combination of colonizer attacks, movement restrictions, demolition orders, and the lack of protection for Palestinian communities represents a failure by the occupying power to meet its legal obligations toward the civilian population under its control.
Ma’azi Jaba’ sits among a cluster of small Bedouin and rural communities between Jerusalem and the central West Bank.
The area has long been targeted for expanded colony blocs and infrastructure projects, leaving these communities particularly exposed to pressure, land seizures, and colonizer violence.
In related news, Israeli soldiers abducted Fuad and Diab Omar al‑Jabour from the Huwara area in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, after the soldiers detained several Palestinian residents who were attempting to stop Israeli colonizers from raising Israeli flags on privately owned Palestinian land in an effort to impose control over it.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
