Settlers suspected of rampaging in Palestinian village

Residents of Jaloud say masked men burst into school, broke windows, vandalized cars and burned olive grove

By AP 9 October 2013, 8:36 pm

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An Israeli policeman walks by a damaged car inside a schoolyard in the West Bank village of Jaloud, near Nablus, Wednesday, October 9, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Nasser Ishtayeh)

JALOUD, West Bank — Four Israeli settlers were arrested Wednesday, after Palestinians reported masked men burst into a school, vandalized cars and torched olive trees during a rampage that forced schoolchildren to remain locked in classrooms to keep safe.

Fawzi Ali, a teacher at the school in Jaloud, said the settlers entered on Wednesday and began throwing stones. He said teachers locked classroom doors to protect the school’s 175 students as the doors were pelted.

The settlers smashed the windshields of several cars outside, and then lit a fire that burned through a nearby olive grove.

The Israeli military said its forces, responding to complaints in the area, discovered the school had been damaged along with seven vehicles. The military said it arrested four settlers as suspects.

A soldier present at the scene was wounded by a stone.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the army “frowns upon such grave actions, which destabilize the region and deviate security forces attention from their main mission — combatting terror.”

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