Jewish Settlers Rampage Through Palestinian West Bank Town, Injuring 3

Far-right Jewish extremists threw stones at Palestinians while parading in a convoy through the West Bank town of Huwara, about 5 miles south of Nablus, Monday night, injuring three people and damaging at least 20 cars, according to Palestinian officials and Israeli rights groups. A 15-year-old Palestinian was reportedly rushed to the hospital after being struck in the head, and two other Palestinian youth – ages 12 and 17 – were lightly injured.

The mayor of Huwara, Mueen Dameidi, charged that the Jewish settlers carried out their attack in the presence of Israeli soldiers, who stood aside and did nothing, but when local Palestinians began throwing rocks back, soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them.

The attackers, who are thought to live in nearby settlements, were celebrating the release from prison of an Israeli who was incarcerated last year for throwing stones at Palestinians, an Israeli security official said. “The friction began when a number of cars driving on Road 60 through Huwara threw stones at businesses and parked cars and caused much damage,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

An Israeli police spokesman said the incident was under investigation.

This was the latest in a series of attacks by Israeli West Bank residents in recent months. On Sunday, Jewish settlers vandalized cars and homes in the village of Qira, about 5 miles west of Huwara, slashing tires and spray-painting slogans. On Friday, settlers attacked Palestinians and left-wing Israeli activists in the West Bank and set a car on fire. Last month, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed Yehuda Dimentman, a Jewish resident of the Shavei Shomron settlement, and injured two others in his car, setting off a wave of revenge attacks.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh earlier on Monday warned of Israeli settlers’ escalating actions against Palestinians in the West Bank. During the weekly cabinet meeting, held in the Tubas district near the Jordan Valley, the prime minister condemned what he described as the seizure of Palestinian farms by hundreds of Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank and actions they and the Israeli military took to “expel the Palestinians from their living places” and prevent Palestinians farmers from accessing their lands.