Israeli settlers, overnight, assaulted five Palestinians to south of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank, said security sources.
A group of settlers from Bat Ayin settlement, which is a part of the cluster of Israeli settlements making up the Gush Etzion bloc, intercepted five Palestinian chess referees and hurled stones at their vehicle, forcing them to flee their vehicle.
According to WAFA, the referees were on their way from the northern West Bank to Nahhalin town, west of Bethlehem, to participate in a chess match.
They reportedly lodged a complaint at a nearby Israeli police station.
Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
It includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
All settlements across the West Bank are illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
(Al Ray archive image)
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