Feature: Village guards replace Palestinian police against settlers' attacks

Salim Karkar, a 45-year-old Palestinian, is tasked to roam the guard stations at the West Bank village of Deir Dibwan, which are in charge of protecting residents from threats, including the increasing Jewish settlers' attacks.

"This is a Jewish outpost," Karkar, who is a construction worker at the day, said while pointing at a few caravans set up down the hill.

Villagers in Deir Dibwan have mobile numbers of local guards to call in case of emergencies. Although police is the fastest to come to the rescue, Palestinians know that they might not be able to reach them at all.

Unlike some villages, Deir Dibwan is not closely surrounded by Jewish settlements. But as the settler attacks intensify, villagers fear that nobody is safe from the violence.

The idea of forming protection committees with members receiving salaries from villagers' donations came up a few years ago when settlers drove to Deir Dibwan and set a vehicle on fire. The Palestinian police did not arrive then. Witnesses said the Israeli army arrived but it's too late.

The guards do not receive training or have weapons and their equipment include sticks, lights and mobile phones. Their main mission is to inspect cars coming into the village and cry out for people to gather if they felt a threat.

"We will then gather and surround assailants, this is the only protection," Karkar said, as he reached one local checkpoint and asked the guards if things were under control.

In late July, a house of a Palestinian family was firebombed by suspected extremist Jews near the West Bank city of Nablus. The attack left a Palestinian toddler, his mother and father dead. The family's only survivor is a four-year-old boy.

Settlements are illegal under the international law, yet there are about 200 settlements and outposts scattered around the West Bank, some of which are home to extreme radicals.

Random settler violence is not new to Palestinians, but they have recently taken a form of organized and more violent attacks.

The increasing violence is usually linked to a radical group of extremists working as a part of a campaign called 'Price Tag" which emerged in 2008. Participants say they want Palestinians to pay the price for rejecting Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Their attacks target mosques, churches, Arab and Jewish homes and property, as well as Israeli military bases and vehicles.

Official Palestinian data have recorded more than 11,000 incidents of settler violence since 2004. The Israeli human rights organization Btselem" said extremist settlers were rarely brought to justice for their attacks.

The Palestinian territories were temporarily divided into area A, B and C by the Oslo accords in 1993. Area A is under full Palestinian control, Area B under Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control, and Area C, which comprises more than 60 percent of the West Bank, is fully controlled by Israel.

However, after the second Intifada in 2000 the joint control stopped, leaving Palestinians' security up in the air.

Spokesman for the Palestinian security forces Adnan Damiri told Xinhua that the Palestinian security needs to ask for an Israeli permission to enter areas B and C during emergencies. He added that Israel has rarely responded positively to their requests.

"If they do, they take up a long time to respond, which means that any assailants would have enough time to leave," Damiri said.

At the present time, the Palestinian police is unable to enter 280 Palestinian villages without permission.

Saleh Bader, a resident of the village and a father of two children, says that he welcomes the move of village guards.

"The idea was more about making people feel secure from the growing settler violence. Thankfully, each entrance of the city has an inspection point," he told Xinhua.

The unarmed villagers could still be in danger as they could face potential armed settlers coming to attack them.

Other villages close to settlements have also started volunteer-based local guards to defend themselves. Some are consulting with Deir Dibwan guards, asking them for help as the village serves as the main and successful model of local protection committees.

The older generation in villages, unlike the youngsters, say if they catch a settler attempting to attack them, they would not harm them but keep them in custody for the Israeli police to enter and take them as Israeli citizens.

The guards stress that they do not want to harm Israelis but only aim to protect their people from increasing dangers. Endit