‘I would have burned’: US citizen recounts Israeli occupier attack in West Bank town

Deir Dibwan, a town east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, has not been spared from escalating Israeli occupier attacks, like many other Palestinian areas, Anadolu reports.

What draws attention to the town, however, is that about 70% of its residents hold US citizenship.

That status has not protected Palestinians in the town. On the contrary, residents say Deir Dibwan has faced repeated occupier attacks.

The latest attack took place on Sunday, when vehicles were burned, an attempt was made to set fire to a mosque, and Palestinian homes and property were attacked, according to local sources.

The large number of US citizens in the town is linked to successive waves of migration to the United States that began in the late Ottoman period and the early 20th century, when some residents left in search of economic opportunities.

The 1948 Nakba and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967 also contributed to increased migration.

As early migrants obtained US citizenship, migration expanded through family reunification, with relatives following them.

Over generations, migration became an extended social phenomenon, but Palestinians maintained a strong connection to their town, with many living between Palestine and the United States.

READ: Israeli settlers destroy sole water pipeline serving Umm Safa village in occupied West Bank

Attacks and injuries

The occupier attack took place after sunset prayers, when a large group of occupiers entered the outskirts of the town and began attacking residents and their property by burning vehicles, damaging private property and trying to set fire to a mosque before residents confronted the attack, Mayor Mansour told Anadolu.

“The attacks spread to several residential neighborhoods and outskirts of the town, where vehicles parked in front of homes were targeted and fires were set on farmland,” he said.

“The attackers used flammable materials, causing fires in agricultural areas. Palestinian Civil Defense crews and local volunteers later brought the fires under control and extinguished them after they caused material damage,” the mayor added.

“Palestinian Red Crescent crews treated residents who were wounded,” Mansour said, without specifying the number, while the town saw broad mobilization among residents during the attack.