US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday met with Palestinian Americans, including relatives of US citizens killed by Israeli settlers, in a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank that has been the target of Israeli settler attacks. The visit comes as settler violence, and what is widely perceived as the Israeli government's inaction, has increasingly drawn international condemnation, including from US allies. Israeli settlers regularly attack Palestinian communities in the occupied territory, taking their crops or livestock or seeking to force them off their land. The Israeli government has condemned settler violence, though perpetrators are rarely arrested and even less frequently prosecuted. Washington has not criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the violence, though it has called for perpetrators to be prosecuted. Huckabee has labelled perpetrators of settler violence as terrorists. Watch moreIsraeli attacks in West Bank at 'unprecedented' level, PNI leader Barghouti says Huckabee described his meeting in Turmus Ayya, where most of the town's Palestinian residents are US citizens, as constructive. While Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, has previously called for violent settlers to be prosecuted, he also says he believes they represent a minority of the settler community, which numbers around 750,000. Around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, with tens of thousands estimated to be American citizens. Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory since 1967. Palestinians in the West Bank have faced a surge in settler violence while their freedoms have been increasingly curtailed under military occupation since Netanyahu's coalition, the most right-wing in Israel's history, came to power in late 2022. Netanyahu's government has been ramping up approval of new settlements, which are illegal under international law, ahead of the October 27 elections.
US ambassador to Israel visits Palestinian town hit by West Bank settler violence
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday visited Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli settler violence. Huckabee, a…












