Extremist Israeli settlers attacked on Friday local and international law professors participating in a conference regarding Palestine’s membership at the United Nations, organized by the Al-Khalil University, in Al-Khalil city, in the southern part of the West Bank.

The professors were touring in Ash-Shallalah Street, next to the illegal settlement outpost of Beit Hadassah.

Palestinian researcher, professors of Refugees Studies at Oxford University, Abbas Shiblaq, stated that “this attack is a proof of the fascist nature of the Israeli occupation and its settlers” who aim at uprooting the Palestinians from their homeland, and a proof that Israeli policy is based on “voiding the other”.

Shiblaq described the situation in al-Khalil and the illegal Israeli violations as a system that is deeper and larger than the former apartheid system in Southern Africa.

He added that what the media reports about the violations carried out by extremist settlers and Israeli soldiers, in Hebron, barely reflects %5 of what is happening on the ground.

Oxford Law Professor, Professor of International Refugee Law, Goodwin Gill, stated that visited several conflict zones around the world, but never witnessed a situation that is similar to the situation in the Old City of al-Khalil.

Gill added that the Israeli closure of Palestinian stores, and roads, and its disregard of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people, cannot be comprehended, adding that the Palestinians in Hebron are unable to lead a normal life due to these violations.

“There is no convincing reason that would explain why would they treat ordinary people like this”, he said, “These violations are destroying the daily lives of the people, bit by bit”.

He was also overwhelmed by size and brutality of the Israeli control over the Old City, the settlers’ ongoing attacks against the residents, and the fact that they hurled stones and trash at his delegation.

Member of the Al-Khalil Defense Committee, University professor, Mohammad Al-Jabreeny, and other committee members, informed the visiting professors about the ongoing Israeli violations in the Old City of Al-Khalil, and the increasing Israeli restrictions, especially on the social sector, the shutting down dozens of shops and stores, in addition to the restrictions on the Freedom of Worship at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

The visiting dignitaries listened to a presentation that explained the devastating effects of Israel’s closure of the Ash-Shuhada Street on its residents, and the residents of Tal Romeida, in addition to the rest of the city.

International Law Professor, head of the Legal Clinic at the Al-Khalil University, Mo’taz Qfeisha, stated after accompanying the visiting professors that he is happy to be part of the Hebron Defense Committee, and part of its legal nonviolent resistance that aim at maintaining and defending the basic human rights of the residents, and exposing Israel’s violations against the Palestinians in the city.

IMEMC/AB