Family members of Palestinian stabbed to death by Israeli settler say they were arrested over their testimony

Israeli forces recently arrested and interrogated family members of a Palestinian who was killed by an Israeli settler last week, the family said.

Ali Harb, the 27-year-old Palestinian from the village of Skaka near Salfit, died after being stabbed by an Israeli settler in front of Israeli soldiers a week ago during a stand-off between villagers and settlers, just outside of Skaka.

Naim Harb, the victim's uncle and an eyewitness to the killing, told The New Arab that Israeli forces arrested him and two more family members on Monday and interrogated them over their accounts of the incident.

"I received a call from an unknown number and a person who identified himself as an Israeli officer told me that I was summoned to an interrogation centre, but I refused to comply," said Harb.

Palestinian mourners taking part in the funeral of Palestinian youth Ali Hassan Harb, who succumbed to the injuries he sustained after being stabbed in the heart by a colonial Israeli settler in Salfit in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/4aLow2oN7A

— PALESTINE SUNBIRD 🇵🇸 (@SBPal_Eng) June 22, 2022

"At 2 am on Monday, Israeli forces violently raided my house, forcing their way into the courtyard where one soldier threw a stun grenade and another fired shots in the air," he described. "They blindfolded me, my son Firas and my nephew Zaid and took us to an interrogation centre."

"They kept me in a cell until 3 pm when they finally took me to interrogation," Harb added. "All the questions were about our witnessing of what happened last week, particularly about us saying that when the settler stabbed Ali, Israeli soldiers were present."

"They said that soldiers had arrived after the stabbing had happened, but I maintained my testimony that the settler stabbed Ali in front of the soldiers, just as I had said in my declaration to the Israeli police just after the killing happened," he noted.

Ali Hassan Harb, 28 years old, was attacked by settlers as he was working on his land between Eskaka village & Salfit. He was stabbed to death while the armed guards at Ariel settlement shot at the Palestinians who tried to reach him. Bloodthirsty thugs #IsraeliTerrorism.

— Hanan Ashrawi (@DrHananAshrawi) June 21, 2022

Israeli media reported that the Israeli settler in question, a 44-year-old man, was arrested by Israeli intelligence. According to Israeli reports, hundreds of Israelis, including far-right lawmakers, demonstrated in front of the Israeli police station in the settlement of Ariel demanding the killer's release.

Settler violence has been on the rise since the beginning of the year in the northern occupied West Bank. On Sunday, a group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians' lands at the village of Madama, south of Nablus, clashing with Palestinian villagers. No casualties were reported.