Israeli settler mob 'left Palestinian for dead' after brutal roadside attack

Fadi Bakirat, an engineer from Sur Baher in southeast Jerusalem, was driving near the settlement when a group of settlers stopped his car.

They proceeded to beat Bakirat with sticks and rifle butts and verbally abused him, leaving him by the road after he had passed out and they believed that he was dead, according to the The New Arab's Arabic-language service.

The attack left Bakirat with a fractured nose, spine, and ribs. He also suffered severe bruising, internal bleeding and dizziness.

Images of Bakirat's injuries circulated on social media, showing him severely bruised, his face swollen and dishevelled with two black eyes.

Settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is routine, with the UN reporting over 220 incidents of assault or damage to property in 2018.

Israeli authorities are routinely accused of not doing enough to prevent settler violence, with the chances of a police complaint filed by a Palestinian resulting in the conviction of an Israeli civilian just 1.9 percent, according to a 2015 report.

Often therefore Palestinians don't see the point in taking further action when attacked by setters.

Israel's lenience and often complicity in settler violence against Palestinians forms part of a broader strategy to force and intimidate Palestinians off of their land, allowing the Israeli government to seize more land, according to rights group B'Tselem.

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and major roadblocks to peace, as they are built on land Palestinians see as part of their future state.