Illegal Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians in Nablus and Qalqilia, Injuring Six Civilians

Settlers vent anger at Palestinians amid outpost crackdown

Date: 01 / 06 / 2009 Time: 08:23
Nablus – Ma’an –

Illegal Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinians, injuring six of them, at the Qedumim crossroads between the cities of Nablus and Qalqiliya, in the northern West Bank early on Monday morning.

The attacks were the first incident in a day of violence which the settlers say is a response to the Israeli government’s dismantling of unsanctioned settler “outposts.”

According to Ghassan Dughlus, a Palestinian official in charge of the settlements file in the northern West Bank, the six were on their way to work when settlers attacked them.

As a result, 44-year-old Ali Al-Sadda from the village of Jit was seriously injured in the head. He was transferred to Al-Arabi Hospital in Nablus. Thirty-two-year-old Muhammad Khalid from the village of Jayous was moderately injured. Shakir and Muhammad Al-Sadda, also from Jit, sustained moderate to slight wounds.

Two other workers were injured, and received medical treatment from bruises at Al-Funduq Hospital in the nearby village of Al-Funduq.

’Like a Lynching’

The victims of the attacks told reporters that they encountered the illegal Israeli settlers who had blocked a road with large rocks, and were assaulted when they stepped out of their cars to remove the stones.

Muhammed Khaled told Israel’s Ynet news agency, "I was transporting the vegetables when I encountered a road blocked by stones near Qedumim. I got out of the car, and dozens of settlers – 50 to 60 – began attacking me, broke the car and strongly beat me in the entire body.”

He said he ‘felt like he was being lynched,’ according to Ynet, and was rescued when Israeli soldiers arrived. "I saw death before my eyes," he said.

Israeli occupation forces sent to the area also reported being attacked by the illegal Israeli settlers. There were no reported injuries among the soldiers. Israeli police said that no one was arrested.

Price tag

Settlers also set fire to Palestinian-owned farmland and orchards in the area. The settlers said their violence was in response to the Israeli military’s removal of two trailers from an illegal outpost near the settlement of Elon Moreh, which is to the north of Nablus. "This is part of the price tag on outpost evacuation," one settler leader told reporters.

According to Israeli news reports, settlers had earlier converged on a nearby settlement outpost, expecting it to be evacuated by the Israeli army. Israel's Civil Administration, the branch of the military dealing with civilian life in the West Bank, recently released a list of 10 unauthorized outposts slated for removal.

The head of the village council in the town of Burin (south of Nablus, where the morning’s attack took place) Ali Eid told Ma’an that the Israeli army informed the council they intended to evacuate an outpost between Bracha settlement and Burin, but the order has not yet been carried out.

He added that settlers gathered near the Burin school near the settler bypass road and set fire to more than ten Palestinian-owned sites.

Burin has a population of 3,200, and over the past months it was assaulted several times by Israeli settlers, especially those living in Yitzhar and Bracha settlements.

The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din said that the Israeli military establishment could have predicted the settlers’ violence, which they labeled a “wave of Jewish terror sweeping over the West Bank.”

"Anyone that has a little knowledge on the subject could have predicted that when talks of evacuations of illegal constructions begin, the dormant and active cells of Jewish terror will rear their heads and set the ground ablaze."

***Updated at 14:05 local time

Four Palestinians wounded, one seriously, as settlers attack Palestinians north of the W. Bank

Monday June 01, 2009 09:02 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources reported on Monday morning that four Palestinians were wounded, one seriously, after being attacked by a group of extremist illegal Israeli settlers at the Kidumim junction on the Nablus – Qalqilia road.

Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority, stated that approximately at 5:30 a.m. the four Palestinians were on their way to work when they were attacked by a group of extremist Israeli settlers.

Palestinian medical sources stated that resident Ali Al Sidda, 44, from Jeet village near Nablus, was seriously wounded in his head and was moved to Al Arabi Specialized Hospital in Nablus.

Resident Mohammad Khalid, 32, suffered moderate wounds, while residents Shaker Sidda, and Ahmad Sidda suffered minor wounds. All are from Jayyous village near Qalqilia.

Daghlas demanded the international community and international human rights groups to intervene and put an end to the ongoing attacks carried out by the settlers and the solders.

Two civilians injured by military tear-gas near Hebron

Monday June 01, 2009 15:40 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

Two Palestinian civilians were injured after Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas at a home in Safa village on Monday afternoon, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Witnesses told local media that Israeli troops stormed the village and searched a number of homes there. During the search Israeli soldiers fired tear gas bombs inside Hisham Khalil's home, injuring his two daughters, Samirah, 35, and Tamara, 14. Medics reported that the two girls were moved to a nearby hospital for treatment after they sustained light wounds.

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