Israeli settler now protects West Bank Palestinians from violence

By Verónica Snoj Ras 'Ein al 'Auja, West Bank, July 4 (EFE).- Ben Zion Eshel, a 61-year-old Israeli Jew, stands out in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Ras 'Ein al 'Auja in the West Bank thanks to his colorful hat and glasses.

Although he spent his adolescence in an Israeli settlement-communities built in the West Bank that receive support from Israel but are considered illegal by the international community-he now devotes his life to protecting Palestinians from the violence of surrounding settlers, alongside other volunteers. Ben and the other activists stand guard and sleep on alert for the possible arrival of settlers from a large tent furnished with mattresses and a small kitchen next to the desert village north of Jericho, he explains to EFE. A life of reflection and change In the 1980s, Ben moved with his parents from a town south of Tel Aviv to Kedumim, one of the most radical settlements in the West Bank, home to Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Daniela Weiss, a far-right activist who promotes the expansion of settlements citing nationalist and religious reasons. Ben recalls that Weiss was friends with his parents: "I never liked her, even when I was a real extreme settler.