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

West Bank town of Deir Dibwan, where 70% of residents are US citizens, faces Israeli occupier attacks

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. 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. Anadolu visited the town and heard residents’ accounts of the latest attack, as well as remarks from Mayor Mansour Mansour, who said about 70% of the town’s roughly 6,000 residents hold US citizenship. 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.   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. Asked about the Israeli army and police position, Mansour said forces arrived after the attack, but their measures on the ground were not immediately clear.     Additional dimension “The large number of US citizens in the town added another dimension to the incident,” Mansour said. “The US Embassy contacted the Deir Dibwan municipality after the attack, and that contact was also made with the Israeli side,” he said. “There were promises of a field visit to the town in the coming period to review conditions,” the mayor added. “The repeated attacks on the town come in the context of pressure and intimidation, amid continued occupier attacks that residents believe aim to displace them,” Mansour stressed. “Residents of the town feel there is US diplomatic contact after the attack, but this contact has not yet translated into tangible practical measures on the ground to stop the attacks,” he added.   They almost burned me Yasser Rashid, a 92-year-old resident of the town, told Anadolu that he was inside the mosque after sunset prayers, where worshippers were reciting the Quran while waiting for evening prayers, before events began to unfold. Rashid, who holds US citizenship, said that about 10 minutes after sunset prayers ended, he heard noise outside, prompting him to go to a mosque window to check what was happening. “I opened the window and saw an occupier with a gasoline container. Then he sprayed it on my face and clothes, then lit the fire. The fire immediately caught at the window, and I quickly moved back,” he said. “If I had stayed in my place for a moment, I would have burned,” Rashid said, adding that flames spread around the window. “Those inside the mosque later managed to control and extinguish the fire before it spread further, it all happened suddenly and very dangerously,” he said. “The attack was not isolated, but coincided with other attacks in different parts of the town, where vehicles parked in streets and in front of homes were targeted, including my own vehicle, which caught fire,” Rashid continued. “The town witnessed a state of chaos during the attack, and the occupiers were moving at more than one point, causing the attacks to spread simultaneously,” he said. Among the occupiers, Rashid said, were teenagers between the ages of 15 and 16.     We are steadfast and will not leave Rashid said he has held US citizenship for many years and lives between the United States and Deir Dibwan, spending long periods in the town. He stressed that moving between the two places has not changed his connection to the town, saying his whole life is tied to it. “The town has faced repeated Israeli attacks recently, including the burning of vehicles, attacks on homes and fires set on farmland,” Rashid said. Despite his age, Rashid voiced his attachment to his homeland. “We are steadfast here. We will die on this land and will not leave it,” he said, stressing residents’ determination to remain despite the attacks and losses they face. “What happened inside the mosque is a dangerous escalation because it targeted a place of worship while worshippers were inside, and this crosses every line,” he said. “Sunday’s attack was not the first, Deir Dibwan had faced similar attacks before, including attempts to burn vehicles, attacks on worshippers and the closure of the area around the mosque,” Rashid added. The West Bank has seen a continued escalation in occupier attacks on Palestinian villages and communities, including the burning of homes, vehicles and farmland, and assaults on residents, especially in areas near settlements and settlement outposts. Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli army and occupiers have killed at least 1,169 Palestinians in the West Bank, wounded 12,666 others, arrested about 23,000 and displaced 33,000, according to official Palestinian figures.