The water pipes outside had already been destroyed, the grapevines poisoned, olive branches cut, and garbage from the Jewish settlement strewn on the pathway approaching the front door. Once inside they proceeded to wreak havoc, smashing furniture, computers and windows, scribbling graffiti on the walls, upturning personal belongings, and emptying the contents of cupboards and drawers onto the floors.

After a couple of hours of wanton destruction, the settlers left. Azzer, whose family has lived in the same home for generations, eventually returned and tried to salvage what remained of his property. The settlers had warned him over the preceding months that they would drive him out.

"This intimidation has been going on for years and they have succeeded in driving out other families," Azzer told the Middle East Times, "but because we still refuse to leave it has got worse in the last year."

Azzer, a U.N. employee, had invited the Middle East Times to view a video his brother covertly shot during the rampage, his close presence unknown to the settlers or the police accompanying them.

Outbreaks of violence and friction between the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida and Israeli settlers are regular occurrences here, while the Israeli Defense Forces are apparently unable or unwilling to do much about it.

Tensions in Hebron are far worse than in other areas of the West Bank due to the very close proximity of 600 Israeli settlers, who are protected by 1,500 IDF soldiers, and 560,000 Palestinians.

The U.N. continues to monitor these violent eruptions, meticulously documenting cases which they then bring to the attention of the relevant Israeli authorities.

According to a recent humanitarian monitor report released by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, settler attacks on Palestinian children have increased in recent months. Six were attacked and injured in September alone.

Two children were struck by settlers in vehicles in hit and run incidents while the remaining four were physically assaulted by settlers in the Hebron area.

"Approximately 81 percent of Palestinian children injured by Israeli settlers in 2007 were in the Hebron governorate," stated the report.

The Palestinians believe the settlers want to drive them out and take over their land. In an attempt to prevent settlers, who live in upper apartments in some parts in Hebron's Old City, from raining garbage and other projectiles onto Palestinian pedestrians below, the Israeli authorities have built wire mesh fences above the walkways.

One low point in Hebron's history of enmity between the two groups occurred in 1994 when a Jewish doctor from Brooklyn, New York, a settler from the nearby Kyriat Arba settlement, shot dead 29 Palestinian worshipers in the Ibrahimi mosque, where the prophet Abraham and most of his family are believed to be buried.

In a bid to prevent further outbreaks of violence, the Israeli authorities imposed a curfew on the city's Palestinian residents, confining them to their homes for days while armed settlers roamed the streets freely.

Over the last couple of years the Israeli human rights organization, Yesh Din, has pushed for law enforcement against violent settlers by closely monitoring the Israeli authorities' responses to complaints filed by victims to encourage prompt, competent investigations and indictments.

They have also been involved in helping Palestinian complainants lay charges against Israeli settlers and military personnel in the West Bank by escorting the Palestinians to meetings. Yesh Din coordinates this with the police and military as Palestinians are not allowed to enter military bases or settlements, where the police stations are located.

"Conviction rates are around 10 percent of cases opened due to what we consider unprofessional investigations," Lior Yavne, Yesh Din's research director told the Middle East Times

"In many instances the paperwork is either 'lost' or the police or military personnel involved in the investigations claim they are 'unable to identify the perpetrators.' However, when a conviction is secured this at least entitles the victim to monetary compensation," Yavne said.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights organization B'tselem, Israeli civilians killed 34 Palestinians in the occupied territories during the second Intifada from late September 2000 to the end of 2004.

Settler violence takes various forms.

In some of these cases, the Israelis acted in life-threatening situations, such as when armed Palestinians infiltrated Israeli settlements. In many cases, however, Israeli civilians chased stone-throwers and fired at them as a form of "punishment," the report said.

"Further acts of settler violence and destruction include blocking roadways, so as to impede Palestinian life and commerce. The settlers also shoot at solar panels on roofs of buildings, torch automobiles, shatter windowpanes and windshields, destroy crops, uproot trees, and abuse merchants and owners of stalls in the market.

"During the olive-picking season, when many Palestinians are at work in the orchards, settler violence increases. The violence takes the form of gunfire, which sometimes results in casualties among the Palestinian olive-pickers, destruction of trees, and theft of Palestinian crops," stated the report.

B'tselem further accused the Israeli authorities of being lenient in bringing Israeli perpetrators to justice while being extremely vigilant in bringing Palestinian perpetrators of violence against Israelis to account for their actions. The group also commented on the number of incidents that take place while Israeli soldiers are nearby, without any intervention.

However, an Israeli military spokeswoman told the Middle East Times that all acts of violence are acted upon irrespective of who commits them and that the IDF does its best to ensure that Palestinians are able to continue their life in as normal a way as possible.