Palestinian-American protester cudgeled to death in West Bank by army-backed illegal settlers

A Palestinian-American protester has been beaten to death by Israeli settlers, who unleashed deadly violence under the deliberate inaction of the Israeli army, towards Palestinians demonstrating against a new illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank.

The victim of the Friday incident near the city of Ramallah was identified as 23-year-old Saif al-Din Musalat, also named as Sayfollah Musallet, from Tampa, Florida, Drop Site News, an American investigative outlet, reported.

The outpost in question is located in the so-called Area B, where settlement construction is prohibited as per Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

The Israeli settlers, however, blocked the protesters’ path before launching a violent assault.

Another protester, named as Muhammad Rizq Hussein al-Shalabi, also received with a gunshot wound to the chest. He later succumbed to his injuries, according to the Palestinian health ministry in the West Bank.

At least 10 others were injured, with witnesses reporting that settlers rammed one protester with a car and shattered ambulance windows.

Israeli forces eventually arrived at the scene, but made no arrests -- a repeated occurrence throughout settler aggression across the West Bank.

Just a day before the deadly assault, Palestinian-American journalist Said Arikat, Washington, D.C. correspondent for the al-Quds newspaper, pressed US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on who Palestinians, especially Palestinian-Americans, had to contact when facing settler attacks.

Bruce offered no specific contact point, saying only that “thousands of people” at the State Department “care deeply” about the issue, and suggested victims reach out to the Israeli regime because “Israel is an ally.”

When asked if the US would directly condemn attacks on Palestinian communities, Bruce instead gave a generic statement of concern over violence “by any party.”

According to a new investigation by Drop Site, since mid-June, the Israeli regime has sharply escalated its atrocities across the West Bank, involving mass arrests, home demolitions, and coordinated settler assaults.

The report details systematic military raids combined with settler-led expulsions.

Last month, settlers attacked the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh, home to roughly 300 American citizens.

Washington, the regime’s biggest supporter, has also stopped short of directly condemning that attack too.

Analysts say the combination of Israeli barbarity and American indifference is aimed at boosting the regime’s “ethnic cleaning” efforts against Palestinians.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk