Settler attacked by Palestinians while jogging – medics

A resident of the Har Bracha settlement in the northern West Bank who was out jogging was attacked by Palestinians near the village of Burin, medics said Monday.

The man was taken to Meir hospital in Kfar Saba with mild injuries, according to Magen David Adom.

There were no immediate arrests announced following the assault. The Palestinian news site Ma’an reported that Israeli troops had placed roadblocks close to al-Burin and were preventing residents from entering or leaving the village.

Palestinians in Burin were subject to an alleged stone-throwing attack by settlers on Saturday from the nearby outpost of Givat Ronen. In a video widely circulated on social media, so-called hilltop youth can be seen hurling rocks as Israeli soldiers apparently stand by.

A spokesperson for the Israel Police’s West Bank division told The Times of Israel that one Jewish suspect had been arrested in connection with the stone-throwing. The same suspect was later conditionally released.

Esther Horgen, 52, who was found dead in the northern West Bank in a suspected terror attack on December 20, 2020. (Courtesy)

The incidents come a month after Esther Horgen, 52, a mother of six, was murdered after she went for a run in the Reihan forest near her home in the settlement of Tal Menashe. A Palestinian man suspected of the murder has been arrested.

The West Bank has seen a notable increase in ultranationalist violence against Palestinians after 16-year-old Ahuvia Sandak was killed in a police chase after allegedly hurling stones at Palestinians in late December.

Sandak, a resident of the Bat Ayin settlement, was fleeing Border Police in a car with four other hilltop youth when his car flipped over, killing him. According to police, Sandak’s group fled from police before losing control of their vehicle. Sandak’s defenders view his death as a police killing; they allege that the police car hit his vehicle from behind, causing it to run off the road.

Sandak’s death ignited weeks of near-nightly protests in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Demonstrators have thrown stones, attacked buses, and blocked major thoroughfares. In turn, police have responded forcefully, including apparently beating a protester in one widely circulated clip.

According to the Yesh Din organization, 44 settler attacks against Palestinians have taken place in recent weeks. A 5-year-old hit in a stone-throwing attack was the second Palestinian child injured last week.