Palestinians clash with settlers, IDF near West Bank outpost

IDF disperses 100 Palestinian farmers after confrontation with settlers from Esh Kodesh outpost; Palestinians hurl stones at troops

By ToI Staff 22 August 2015, 1:52 pm

Edit

Israeli Border Police officers stand guard as Palestinian farmers use tractors to work the land in the village of Qusra in the West Bank, with the Esh Kodesh outpost in the background, on November 19, 2013. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Dozens of Palestinians clashed with settlers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers Saturday morning, close to the Esh Kodesh outpost in the central West Bank, Israel’s Army Radio reported.

More than 100 Palestinians arrived at the area between the village of Qusra and Esh Kodesh, apparently with the intention of working their land there, the radio said. The Palestinians then clashed with some 20 settlers who arrived at the scene, as well as with IDF soldiers.

According to IDF, the Palestinians threw stones at the settlers and soldiers, and troops dispersed the protesters using riot dispersal measures.The soldier also fired into the air, Israel’s Maariv newspaper said.

Army Radio sad that several Palestinians had been injured, adding that the extent of those injuries was unclear. The Haaretz daily reported, however, that dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the clashes.

The soldiers subsequently declared the area a closed military zone, Haaretz said.

The incident comes a day after disturbances between Israelis and Palestinians near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, while fire and rescue services were battling to douse the flames of three separate fires in the area.

This is not the first recent confrontation between settlers from Esh Kodesh and local Palestinians who were working their agricultural land. On August 1, security forces were called to the site to separate the two sides after clashes erupted when the settlers tried to prevent the Palestinians from preparing the land for farming using heavy machinery, the Ynet website reported at the time.

During that confrontation, the Palestinians also fought with the troops and threw stones.

Esh Kodesh is a settlement outpost south of Qusra and west of Duma, where the Dawabsha family home was firebombed by suspected Jewish terrorists on July 31. Channel 2 reported hours after the attack that two assailants who fled the scene of the attack on foot were suspected of coming from the Esh Kodesh area, though not from Esh Kodesh itself.