Israel must protect West Bank’s Palestinians amid settler pogroms: US envoy

United States ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has met with a number of local office-holders and residents in the occupied West Bank, including Palestinian Americans attacked in violent Israeli settler pogroms.

Key points

• Settler pogroms in the West Bank have ⁠risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition administration, the most right wing in Israel's history, took office in late 2022.
• Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, informed Al Jazeera that Huckabee's visit to the West Bank is largely symbolic.
• Nonetheless, the Trump administration "doesn't seem to care enough" regarding settler pogroms or the rights of Palestinians for it to "actually pressure the Israeli government", Pinkas stated.
• This person relocated to Turmus Aya from the US state of Texas with her family four months ago.
• Huckabee was "very receptive" to the experiences of Turmus Aya residents, Alqam remarked, adding: "We are in desperate need of attention here."

Notably, the diplomat remarked on Saturday that the Israeli administration has a "responsibility" to ensure the safety of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after a sharp rise in pogroms.

"One of the messages that we have been sending and we will continue to send is that people in these communities have a right to live with a level of security and safety, and that the government has a responsibility to make sure that happens, " Huckabee remarked to journalists on Saturday.

Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank, remarked that Huckabee not only met local office-holders, "but also Palestinian Americans who live in the village of Turmus Aya and have been seeing firsthand the effects of settler pogroms and violence, part of the whole escalation by settlers in the occupied West Bank".

"They want the US ambassador to relay the message that this is systematic violence being practised against Palestinians, that it's continuing and that they need actual change, " Ibrahim remarked, noting that settlers in the area "wrote slogans not just against Palestinians, but also against him ".

One person Huckabee met was US-Palestinian Ruwan Alqam. This person relocated to Turmus Aya from the US state of Texas with her family four months ago.

But every time Alqam's family leaves their occupied West Bank home, "we're hit with roadblock after roadblock, settlers after settlers", she informed Al Jazeera, shortly after attending a morning gathering with Huckabee.

On a recent day trip to Nablus, the family was unable to return home as Israeli settlers attacked their car with rocks, Alqam remarked.

"They're not being held accountable for their actions – endangering Palestinians is a fun activity for them, " Alqam remarked of the settlers, describing the violence committed as "not a minority" among Israelis.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Huckabee remarked: "Our clear message is that crime is crime, terror is terror. When individuals do it, they should have an expectation that they will have severe consequences".

Meanwhile, Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, informed Al Jazeera that Huckabee's visit to the West Bank is "largely symbolic. Because his visit, as much as it is covered by the media, is not going to change American policy".

Huckabee has labelled some of the settlers committing violence as "terrorists". It is a "clear message", Pinkas remarked, particularly coming from an evangelical Christian who "believes in the Jewish rights over the West Bank".

Settlements have additionally climbed, despite being illegal under international law, with Israel advancing its plan for 627 settler units in the occupied West Bank, deepening its efforts to sever Palestinian ties to Jerusalem.

For now, israel must protect West Bank's Palestinians amid settler pogroms: US envoy remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.