Yitzhar (Archive photo)
צילום: איי פי
Yitzhar: Masked settlers assault Arab
Arab truck driver accidentally arrives at West Bank settlement; while waiting for security officer, some 30 settlers begin hurling stones at him. Man escapes unharmed
Several settlers, some of them masked, assaulted an Israeli Arab at the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar on Tuesday evening. Police did not arrest any suspects.
The man arrived at the settlement in his truck, after apparently losing his way. A soldier at the entrance to the settlement asked him what he was doing there, and the man answered that he had come to work. The soldier called the security officer, but in the meantime some 30 settlers, some of them masked, gathered around the man and began hurling stones at him.
The man managed to escape unharmed, but his truck suffered damage. Police estimated that the driver planned to drive to a different settlement, but lost his way and arrived at Yitzhar.
Settlers vs. police
A series of violent incidents between residents and security forces have already occurred in Yitzhar in the past.
The most recent incident took place at the end of May, when dozens of young settlers threw stones at police officers who arrived at the settlement to guard education institutions.
During a tour of education institutions in the West Bank, two officers were assaulted by dozens of settlers, some of them masked, near the local yeshiva. The settlers also vandalized the police car. The police officers fired in the air in order to remove the crowd. Another police force was dispatched to the area and began patrolling the settlement in search of the stone throwers.
Following the incident, the police detained the head of the "Od Yosef Chai" yeshiva and arrested three settlers aged 17-18 on suspicion of assaulting the officers.
