Settlers hurl stones at West Bank village in reported clash

Dozens of settlers entered a Palestinian village and hurled rocks at people and structures, with footage appearing to show the army standing by amid clashes between the sides.

The IDF spokesperson’s unit said some 40 masked Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian village of Burin and threw rocks at residents and at their homes.

The army said Israeli troops entered the area and, without firing a shot, got the attacking settlers to cease their activities and leave the village, the army said, adding that no injuries were reported.

However, footage released by the Rabbis for Human Rights group shortly after the incident appears to show IDF soldiers standing by while settlers lobbed stones at the village.

https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/ObLRWQXa-U4CTA3JQ

The Israeli rights group also reported damage incurred to a number of olive trees belonging to the Burin residents as a result of the settler attack.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, added that the stone-throwing also caused damage to a school in Burin.

Other footage shows Palestinians throwing rocks, apparently at the settlers.

Elhanan Gruner, one of the settlers present during the clashes, told The Times of Israel that Palestinians had hurled rocks at Israeli vehicles on a road outside the village, prompting passengers and residents of the nearby settlement of Yitzhar to respond with stone-throwing of their own.

An army spokesperson said she was unaware of Palestinian disturbances in the area prior to the settlers’ arrival.

Gruner refuted the IDF report that the settlers had entered Burin during the clashes. He also said that the Israeli troops had dispersed the Palestinians back into the village using riot dispersal methods. The army statement did not mention dispersing Palestinian rioters.

https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/c0twng71-U4CTA3JQ

In footage captured by Zvi Sukkot, another one of the settlers present, Palestinians can be seen hurling stones in the direction of the settlers at the entrance to the village.

The incident follows a period of tension between Israeli and Palestinian residents in the northern West Bank.

Last month, a group of several dozen youths — chaperoned by a pair of fathers — embarked on a tour of the northern West Bank to celebrate the bar mitzvah of Elitzur Libman. As they hiked past the village of Qusra, they said that dozens of Palestinian residents began throwing rocks at them. One of the armed chaperones opened fire, killing 48-year-old Mahmoud Za’al Odeh.

The next week, clashes broke out between settlers and Palestinians in the area after a group of far-right Israeli activist from the Otzma Yehudit group returned to the scene of the deadly clash. One Palestinian man was shot and critically wounded under unclear circumstances. The army did not say then if one of its soldiers had fired the shot that injured the Palestinian.