 Thousands of Palestinians in Israel took to the streets to protest the attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian homes and properties in Nablus. At least one person was killed in the attacks and around 400 others were wounded on Sunday, February 26. Palestinians gathered in the north Israeli town of Sakhnin following a call by the Arab Higher Followup Committee an umbrella organization of Arab groups in Israel. They called the attack on Palestinians a pogrom and accused Israeli occupation forces of being participants in the attack. A similar protest held in solidarity with the Palestinian victims in Tel Aviv was suppressed by the Israeli security forces who detained protesters and resorted to using force to disperse them. On Sunday hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers attacked several towns in and around Nablus city including in Hauwara in the occupied West Bank. They reportedly beat Palestinians up and burned homes and other properties. Despite being present in large numbers Israeli security forces did not try to stop the violence. Nablus in this moment lived through the most difficult moments because of the violence of the occupation in Nablus. The people in Palestine exactly Nablus, the most in Nablus, there are all the many they entered Nablus to kill the people. The situation of Nablus is very difficult about no the occupation killed the people, destroyed the house and many many people in the prison or every day coming in the night to take man or woman from Nablus to the prison. Two days after the attack on February 28th, Israel released all eight persons arrested for the attacks on Hauwara. According to the Times of Israel, three of the eight were sent to house arrest and five were released. Nablus and nearby Janine in the occupied West Bank have been the center of Israeli violence in the last few months. On February 22nd, Israeli occupation forces killed at least 11 Palestinians and injured over 100 in Nablus city in a daytime raid. On Wednesday, February 22nd, a special unit from the Israeli army raided the town of Nablus in the northern occupied Palestinian West Bank and they killed 11 Palestinians and wounded 102 more. The Israelis say we had to do what we did because we were going after two wanted Palestinians in reference to Palestinian freedom fighters in the town. But if the Israeli logic was correct and they needed to kill supposedly with no due process of course these two wanted Palestinians. Why kill the nine others? They included two elder gentlemen and a child and why wounding 102 more included many people who are of old age, children and women. More than 65 Palestinians including 13 children have been killed by Israeli forces in the first 59 days of this year in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians have also stated that settler violence has not ended after the incident in Buwara with reports of fresh attacks on Tuesday as well. In a special closed door meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, member countries called for immediate de-escalation of the situation in the occupied West Bank. This has been the third such meeting since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ultra-right wing government came to power in Israel in November last year. This is presented in mainstream media as if it is an isolated incident. Israel of course is always giving the space to clarify and explain its logic and Palestinians are either completely absent from the picture or are allowed very small spaces to express their views on the issue. Why is this the case? Why the Israeli escalation? The other thing is that the United Nations have reported that last year was the bloodiest year in the West Bank since 2005. That was the end of the second Palestinian uprising or intifada. Now of course Palestinians in Gaza retaliated to the Israeli massacre in Nablus. Firing few rockets towards Israel that did not really lead to any damage of property and of course no wounded or dead Israelis were reported as a result. Israel immediately came and bombed Gaza bombing many targets did not kill anyone but causing many much damage. Of course the Israeli view is that we are retaliating but the Palestinians say but why don't we have to retaliate against Israeli crimes carried out by the occupation army in the West Bank? And why American and Western media accepting the Israeli logic at face value? After all Israel is an occupation regime. It's an apartheid regime. Not only by the admission of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other international human rights organizations, but by Israel's own rights organization, Bid Salem. Why shouldn't Palestinians have the right to defend themselves? Well Israel, the occupier, the military regime and the apartheid regime has every right to defend its citizens against Palestinians. And by citizens of course I'm using the term quite loosely. We are talking about illegal and armed Jewish settlers who have been moved to the West Bank and Jerusalem in violation of international law. So next time the media tells you that a Palestinian has attacked a group of Israeli soldiers or settlers without providing you with any context. Please remember what I just said. There is always a context and people who are under military occupation have every right to defend themselves.