Palestinians: Masked settlers assaulted farmers
Umm a-Tin farmer says IDF joined forces with Gilad Farm settlers, ordered them to evacuate agricultural lands. Settler: Arabs from village of Par'ata arrived at the scene without authorization to provoke us
Clashes broke at Umm a-Tin on Monday as Jews from the Gilad Farm settlement arrived at the West Bank Palestinian village and assaulted a number of local farmers, according to the Palestinians. The settlers offered and entirely different version of the events.
The Palestinians said some of the settlers were masked. "Instead of allowing us to continue working our land, the (Israeli) army joined forces with the settlers and evacuated us," said Abu Bahajath, a Palestinian farmer, adding that prior to the evacuation soldiers ordered reporters to clear the area.
Monday's clash between settlers, Palestinians (Photo: AFP)
"Where else can something like this happen? We were assaulted on our lands and then asked to evacuate them," he said. "The world must be made aware of what is happening here."
Abu Bahajath accused the IDF soldiers of preventing the farmers from warding off the settlers.
'Where else can this happen' (Photo: AFP)
However, Gilad Farm resident Itay Zar said, "After the Palestinian farmers left, Arabs from the village of Par'ata arrived at the scene without authorization to create a provocation.
"They approached one of the homes at Gilad Farm, and we heard gunfire from their direction," the settler said. "The residents alerted the army and the Arabs fled to their village."
The IDF said settlers and Palestinians threw stones at one another until soldiers arrived at the scene, adding that it was not aware of any incident involving gunfire.
