ISRAELI prosecutors plan to charge a settler over the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation caught on video, launching a rare action against Jewish settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Attacks by settlers and home demolitions by the Israeli authorities have spiked dramatically over the past two years, but the death in July of Awdah Hathaleen has drawn particular attention, due to his involvement in last year’s Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which chronicled Palestinian villagers’ fight to stay on their land. 

The case also stands out because the confrontation between Palestinians and Yinon Levi, an internationally sanctioned settler, was captured on video from multiple vantage points.

In footage that family members say was taken by Mr Hathaleen himself, Mr Levi can be seen firing at the person holding the camera. 

Another video showed Mr Levi firing two shots without showing where the bullets struck.

An Israeli judge released Mr Levi from custody six months ago, citing a lack of evidence that he had fired the shots that killed Mr Hathaleen.

The attorney general’s office confirmed in a statement on Monday that it had initiated proceedings to charge Mr Levi. It did not specify the charges.

Eitan Peleg, a lawyer for Mr Hathaleen’s family, said the office had informed them that it planned to charge Mr Levi with reckless homicide.

“Enforcement of the law in cases like this involving Palestinians in the West Bank is very rare, so this is unique,” said Mr Peleg.

More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. 

The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Palestinians and human rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. 

Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the number of investigations into settler attacks has plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

Khalil Hathaleen, Awdah’s brother, said the family was glad some measure of justice was being pursued but felt that the charge of reckless homicide was insufficient.

“It was an intentional killing in broad daylight, with prior intent and premeditation,” he said.

Mr Levi’s lawyer Avichai Hajbi, declined to comment on the charge. After the shooting, he insisted that Mr Levi had acted in self-defence.