Yesh Din: Settlers threw stones at home in Palestinian village of Urif
"Soldiers who arrived to the incident began firing tear gas and live ammunition at the Palestinian youths and did not arrest the group of settlers who had rioted inside the village," Yesh Din said.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFSettlers throw stones in Urif (Source: Yesh Din)
Some 50 settlers threw stones at homes and cars in the West Bank village of Urif near the settlement of Yitzhar, the Left-wing NGO Yesh Din reported on Saturday night.“Today, at around 17:30, a group of over 50 settlers arrived from the area of Yitzhar and entered the eastern neighborhood of the Palestinian village of Urif,” Yesh Din said.“They began throwing stones at houses inside the village and smashed windows of cars. A short time later, a number of young men arrived and began to confront the settlers. Soldiers who arrived to the incident began firing tear gas and live ammunition at the Palestinian youths and did not arrest the group of settlers who had rioted inside the village," Yesh Din said.The NGO distributed a short video from a security camera that showed a woman with a hijab enter a parked car with a small child in a baby seat. Moments later as rioters near her home and start throwing stones, she races back into the house.Yesh Din said of the video that a “particularly violent attack on a family is seen, as a mother and her small daughter run from stones.”On the video it is possible to see Palestinians respond to the attack by throwing stones and a wooden board at the rioters.The army confirmed that its soldiers and border police had responded to a dispute between Israeli and Palestinian civilians at the edge of the village. Solders used riot dispersal means including tear gas, to disperse those creating a disturbance, it said.But the army did not give any details of the attack. The Yitzhar spokesman could not be reached for comment.The Left-wing group B'Tselem also reported on the attack against the home, as well as a water reservoir and a school. On its website it explained that the village had been attacked by settlers at least 15 times in 2018.“Most of the attacks occurred on the eastern outskirts of the village, in farmland that lies close to the village reservoir and the school. This area is a mere kilometer from Yitzhar. The closest neighborhood, Um Safafir, lies only 500 meters away from the reservoir," B’Tselem wrote.
Yesh Din said that separately, on Saturday, a Palestinian policeman said that settlers had thrown stones at his vehicle near the settlement of Shiloh. The policeman alleged that soldiers who were nearby at the time of the attack refused to help him, Yesh Din said.