Frustration among Palestinians grew towards the United States on Sunday as mourners packed the roads to a cemetery in the occupied West Bank town of Al-Mazr'a Ash-Sharqiya for the burial of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by illegal Israeli settlers.
Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said Sayfollah Musallet, 21, was beaten to death, and Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night.
Most of the small town's roughly 3,000 residents share family ties to the United States and many hold citizenship, including Musallet, who was killed weeks after flying to visit his mother in Al-Mazr'a Ash-Sharqiya, where he travelled most summers from Tampa, Florida.
"There's no accountability," said his father Kamel Musallet, who flew from the United States to bury his son.
"We demand the United States government do something about it ... I don't want his death to go in vain."
Israeli killings of US citizens in the occupied West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Friday it was aware of the latest death, but that the department had no further comment "out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones" of the victim.
Many family and community members said they expected more, including that the United States would spearhead an investigation into who was responsible.
A US State Department spokesperson on Sunday referred questions on an investigation to the Israeli government and said it "has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas".
The Israeli military had earlier said Israel was probing the incident.
'Betrayal'
Musallet's family said medics tried to reach him for three hours before his brother managed to carry him to an ambulance, but he died before reaching the hospital.
Local resident Domi, 18, who has lived in Al-Mazr'a Ash-Sharqiya for the last four years after moving back from the United States, said fears had spread in the community since Friday and his parents had discussed sending him to the United States.
"If people have sons like this they are going to want to send them back to America because it's just not safe for them," he said.
He had mixed feelings about returning, saying he wanted to stay near his family's land, which they had farmed for generations, and that Washington should do more to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
"It's a kind of betrayal," he said.
Violence by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has risen since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in late 2023, according to reports by various UN agencies and rights groups.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied in 1967 after the Arab-Israeli War, but declared illegal under the international law.
The top UN court also ruled last year that the 57-year Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands was illegal, mandating Israel to end its occupation, dismantle its settlements and provide full reparations to Palestinian victims among other things.
Malik, 18, who used to visit Musallet's ice-cream shop in Tampa and had returned to the occupied West Bank for a few months' vacation, said his friend's death had made him question his sense of belonging.
"I was born and raised in America, I only come here two months of a 12-month year, if I die like that nobody's going to be charged for my murder," he said, standing in the cemetery shortly before his friend was buried. "No one's going to be held accountable."
