Israeli settlers Monday evening assaulted a number of Palestinians and torched a vehicle near Kafr Thulth town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Qalqiliya, according to local sources. They said that a group of Jewish supremacist settlers, under army protection, attacked Palestinians in the eastern part of the town, pelting them with rocks and beating them with sticks, and set a vehicle on fire. They added that instead of acting to prevent the settler attack, Israeli occupation forces violently suppressed Palestinians defending the village, hitting one by a rubber-coated steel bullet, while pointing that a number of others sustained bruises and cuts due to the attack. The assailants came from El Matan, a colonial settlement outpost established on the lands of the nearby Palestinian village of Wad Qana. Meanwhile, another group of extremist supremacist settlers attacked Palestinians in Ain Samiya area, east of Ramallah, uprooting trees and destroying irrigation networks. The assailants also hurled stones toward Palestinian registered vehicles, resulting in damage. Recently, Palestinian national and Islamic factions urged concerted efforts to defend the Palestinian people’s land and rights, particularly where Palestinians are at the impending threat of forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing, such as in Ein Samia and the northern Jordan Valley. The upsurge of settler violence against the civilian community of Ein Samiya has forced them to relocate and compelled Yvonne Helle, Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to warn against ‘the tragic consequences of longstanding Israeli practices and settler violence’ and urge Israel to ‘protect Palestinians living under occupation and ensure that those responsible for violence against Palestinians are held accountable’. Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. Settler violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others. There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA