Two Israelis were lightly injured Monday evening after a Palestinian tractor hit an Israeli vehicle near the West Bank outpost of Havat Gilad. The Palestinian driver was arrested by Israel Defense Forces soldiers two hours after the incident.
Following an initial investigation, the police said the incident was likely a road accident and not a terror attack, but the Palestinian man was turned over to the security forces for questioning. The settlers, however, insist that the incident was a terror attack.
The tractor was said to have hit the Israeli vehicle at around 8 pm. A resident of the Kedumim settlement, who was driving the Israeli car, managed to escape and report the incident.
An Yitzhar resident who spotted the tractor was lightly injured after drifting from her lane and falling with her car down a 15-meter (49-feet) slope.
The two residents received medical treatment independently. The Palestinian diver abandoned his tractor and escaped by foot towards a nearby village, but was later caught. The security forces said they were still looking into all leads, including the possibility of a terror attack.
'He was afraid settlers would hurt him'
The tractor driver's brother said the man was traveling in a dark area and was afraid of being targeted by a vehicle driven by settlers, following many incidents in which he said settlers had harassed Palestinian drivers.
"My brother looked back, and as he braked the tractor made a half turn and hit the car driven by a woman settler in the back," the brother said. "He escaped because he was afraid, and the moment the army arrived I called him and he went with the officer from the Israeli coordination to Hawara."
The man injured in the incident gave a different version. "I was traveling on the Gilad route, and a tractor was driving ahead of me. Suddenly he stopped for no reason and blocked the road. I stopped immediately and made a U turn because I feared he was trying to create a terror attack.
"The tractor turned, started driving quickly behind me, and slammed into me. He then went on to slam into other vehicles. A jeep travelling on the road was hit by him and fell almost 20 meters (65 feet) into the abyss."
Although the incident was likely not a terror attack, Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika called on the Israeli government to "engage in self-examination before resuming negotiations with barbaric terrorists taking advantage of any opportunity for attempted murder."
Ali Waked contributed to this report