Israeli occupation forces attacked dozens of Palestinians taking part today in an anti-colonization protest in the village of Umm Safa, to the north of Ramallah, according to local sources. Israeli occupation soldiers fired teargas canisters at the protesters as they rallied following the weekly Friday prayer in the village in protest of attempts by Israeli settlers to take over large tracts of Palestinian-owned land in the village. At least one protester was hit by a gas canister in his foot, while many others suffocated from gas inhalation. Late last month, several houses and vehicles were set on fire in a pogrom carried out by state-backed Israeli settler militias in Umm Safa. The pogrom saw scores of Israeli settlers, some of them armed with rifles and guarded by army and Border Guards Police, storm the village and fire indiscriminately at everything they came across, including homes and vehicles, setting several houses and cars on fire. Attacks and acts of terrorism against Palestinians by Israeli settler militias have seen a terrible rise across the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, since last month with a green light from the far-right Israeli government.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA