US envoy says Israel must protect Palestinians in West Bank amid settler pogroms

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank and met Palestinian Americans who say settler violence has become a constant part of daily life.

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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 said on Saturday that the Israeli government has a responsibility to protect Palestinians after what the report described as a sharp rise in settler 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,” he told reporters.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said Huckabee met local officials as well as Palestinian Americans in Turmus Aya who had experienced the violence firsthand. Residents wanted him to convey that the attacks were systematic and continuing, and that they needed tangible change. Settlers in the area also wrote slogans targeting Huckabee, Ibrahim said.

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They’re not being held accountable for their actions, endangering Palestinians is a fun activity for them.

Among those who met the ambassador was Ruwan Alqam, a US-Palestinian who moved to Turmus Aya with her family from Texas four months ago. She said the family faced repeated roadblocks and encounters with settlers whenever they left home. During a recent trip to Nablus, settlers attacked their car with rocks, preventing them from returning, she said. “They’re not being held accountable for their actions, endangering Palestinians is a fun activity for them,” Alqam said, describing the violence as more than the work of a small minority. She said Huckabee was receptive but that residents were in “desperate need of attention.”

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Our clear message is that crime is crime, terror is terror. When people do it, they should have an expectation that they will have severe consequences.

Huckabee later said, “Our clear message is that crime is crime, terror is terror. When people do it, they should have an expectation that they will have severe consequences.” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, told Al Jazeera that Huckabee’s visit was “largely symbolic.”

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Largely symbolic