WorldA Canadian activist injured in a settler attack over the weekend in a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank says she and three others were thrown on the ground and beaten by settlers before some of their wallets and passports were stolen.Foreign activists staying in village near Jericho hope to deter rising settler violenceSara Jabakhanji · CBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2025 12:28 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A B.C. woman speaks to CBC journalist Tom Parry after being injured in an attack on a group of foreign activists in a West Bank village. A Canadian activist injured in a settler attack over the weekend in the Israeli-occupied West Bank says she and three others were thrown on the ground and beaten by settlers in a village where they were staying. CBC News has agreed to conceal her identity because she fears being targeted or deported if she is identified.A Canadian activist injured in a settler attack over the weekend in a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank says she and three others were thrown on the ground and beaten by settlers before some of their wallets and passports were stolen.The woman, who is from British Columbia, said she and three other foreigners from Italy had arrived less than a week before the early Sunday morning attack at a home in Ein al-Duyuk, roughly four kilometres north of the West Bank city of Jericho. CBC News has agreed to conceal her identity because she fears being targeted or deported if she is identified.The attack comes as settler violence in the occupied West Bank has seen a significant surge, with settlers setting fire to a mosque, vehicles and other property in recent weeks. Last week, Israel also launched a military operation in the city of Tubas.The activists are working with a Palestinian group that allows foreigners to stay in communities within the West Bank where settler violence has been reported. The woman says they aim to keep watch over the villages during the day and at night, aiming to deter settler attacks through their presence. “If you can give a Palestinian family one night of an uninterrupted sleep where they don’t have to be afraid, then that is worth everything to me,” she said in an interview with CBC’s Tom Parry on Monday in Ramallah.She said they were also standing with Palestinian farmers as they harvested their olive trees because attacks have intensified in recent weeks. The territory’s annual olive harvest has gotten underway. The activists were on night watch in the village before going to sleep at roughly 3 a.m., she said.The woman said at around 4:30 a.m., there was a knock at the door when 10 masked settlers entered — two armed with assault rifles and others carrying clubs.Settlers ‘took turns beating us’: CanadianShe said she began to film them but was “smacked” across the face so she put her phone away.“They threw us to the ground and then took turns beating us,” she said.She was kicked multiple times in the face, ribs, abdomen and in her hip and thigh area. She said another activist was beaten more severely and kicked repeatedly in the groin area.CBC News has reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), given their current presence in the territory. The IDF referred CBC to Israel Police, which did not immediately respond.A Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Tarkumiya argues with Israeli settlers during a Friday protest against what Palestinians say is a land confiscation in the area. (Mahmoud Illean/The Associated Press)In an email to Radio-Canada, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said it is aware of a Canadian citizen who has been injured in the West Bank.“Canada strongly condemns the violent acts committed by extremist settlers and opposes any action or rhetoric regarding the annexation of Palestinian territories. In accordance with international law, civilians must be protected,” GAC said Monday in the statement. “We also reiterate our position that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law.”Since May 2024, the Canadian government has sanctioned 17 individuals and seven entities for perpetrating “extremist settler violence against civilians” in the West Bank. “Through these measures, Canada aims to hold individuals and entities responsible for harmful attacks accountable and to deter future attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property,” it said.GAC said that Canadian representatives are in contact with local authorities but cannot provide further information on the incident, citing privacy considerations.Wallets, passports stolenThe woman alleges the settlers stole all of their possessions, including some of their passports, wallets and clothes, before leaving 15 minutes later. She said she found her passport after the attackers left.”They said, ‘You are not to come back. You are not supposed to be here,'” she said. The group of foreign activists were then helped by locals and taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated. Despite the attack, the woman says they want to return to the village to continue their work.”We are terrified for the village of Duyuk, we cannot wait to go back. This has only made us stronger. We are not afraid,” she said. “This isn’t about us. What happened to us, of course it was terrible, but it’s nothing. It doesn’t even register on the scale of what is happening to the Palestinian people every second of every minute of every day.”WATCH | Multiple people injured in Israeli settler attacks last month:Aftermath of attacks on Palestinian villagesIsraeli police arrested several Israelis after what it described as ‘extremist violence’ in two occupied West Bank villages, the latest in a series of attacks by young settlers.Israeli forces have been carrying out a sustained assault on northern West Bank cities since January. Last week, United Nations human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence condemned the “unlawful use of force and ever-growing Israeli settler violence” by Israeli security forces, after video showed two men surrendering and putting their hands up before being shot and killed. A few weeks ago, Israel’s president and military chief issued a rare denunciation of the settler violence in reaction to a particularly brazen attack that saw dozens of masked Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and other property.Documented killings by Israeli forces, settlersLaurence said the UN’s human rights office has documented 1,030 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The number includes 223 children.Emboldened by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, settlers have expanded beyond the bounds of pre-existing settlements to establish new farming outposts, which they call “young settlements.”The outposts — usually little more than a few sheds and a pen for livestock — now spill down settlement hilltops toward Palestinian villages, with some settlers gaining control of the villages’ agricultural land and water sources.WATCH | West Bank doctor describes how often he treats victims of settler violence:In the West Bank city of Yatta, Dr. Tareq Abu Aram describes how often he treats victims of Israeli settler violence to the fifth estate’s Ioanna Roumeliotis, who visited Yatta hospital in August and spoke with Palestinians who were injured.Palestinians and human rights workers accuse the Israeli army and police of failing to halt attacks by settlers. Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.About 94 per cent of all investigation files opened by the Israeli Police into settler violence from 2005 to 2024 ended without indictment, according to monitoring by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Since 2005, just three per cent of the investigation files opened into settler violence led to full or partial convictions. ABOUT THE AUTHORSara Jabakhanji is a Toronto-based senior writer assigned to cover news developments in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. She has worked in CBC bureaus in Ottawa, London and Toronto. You can reach her at sara.jabakhanji@cbc.ca.With files from Tom Parry, Radio-Canada and Reuters
B.C. woman injured in West Bank settler attack says they were beaten, passports were stolen
