Settlers burn Palestinian olive groves, crops in several West Bank areas

According to Israeli sources, a number of incidents of violence by Israeli settlers took place in different parts of the West Bank on Wednesday after the removal of some settlers from the outpost of Yad Yair.

Israeli settlers, living illegally on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, burned a number of olive groves belonging to Palestinian families in the villages of Madameh, Burin and Asira al-Kabaliya.  In addition, settlers burned a field of crops near the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

 

According to Palestinian sources, the Israeli military prevented fire trucks from arriving in a timely manner - but the Israeli military retorted that it was the Civil Administration of the Palestinian Authority that was to blame for the delay

 

One Israeli settler told the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz, " If the police haven't yet gotten it, then they will - there's a price to be paid for hitting settlements and outposts" - although no Israeli police were targeted by the violence.  Palestinian civilians were the main targets of the wave of vandalism, but tires of jeeps belonging to the Israeli military were slashed at the military base of Horesh Yaron.

 

In another incident, in the village of Dolev, west of Ramallah, Israeli settlers threw rocks at Palestinian homes, causing major damage to the homes.

 

Also, Israeli settlers closed the main road between Jerusalem and Hebron and began throwing rocks at Palestinian cars.

 

Noam Federman, formerly with the Israeli right-wing armed movement 'Kach', was detained in that incident.