Yizhar settlers fired tear gas on Palestinian village

Maan
Nablus – Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the village of Asira Al-Qibliya south of Nablus Thursday night, according to a Palestinian Authority official.

Eyewitnesses said the settlers came from the nearby settlement of Yizhar and fired dozens of rounds of shots at the eastern side of the area. PA settlement monitor Ghassan Daghlas said settlers attacked the homes of Ibrahim Makhluf and Abed Al-Baset Abd Ar-Rahman, firing tear-gas canisters on the families inside.

Several Palestinian civilians reported suffering tear-gas inhalation. It was not clear where the settlers would have acquired tear gas, although many settlements do operate their own security services and militias.

Earlier this week settlers from the same colony in the West Bank set fire to olive groves in the villages of Tell and Madma, north of Asira Al-Qibliya, following the evacuation of one of the group’s illegal outposts.

In April a Yizhar settler shot and critically injured a Palestinian from Asira Al-Qibliya, and last summer the settlers rioted through the community following a knife attack allegedly by a Palestinian on one of the settlement residents. Daghlas urged the international community to force Israel to put an end to such attacks, saying they only serve to inflame the situation as Israel turns a blind eye to settler violence.