June 02, 2009 03:00am JEWISH settler mobs have rampaged in the West Bank, hurling stones, burning fields and wounding at least four Palestinians, furious that Israel may raze outposts in the territory under US pressure. Jewish extremists today blocked roads, hurled rocks at drivers, set fields ablaze, cut down olive trees and opened fire at Palestinians who tried to chase the trespassers from their fields in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. West of the city of Nablus, an area with some of the most hardline settlers in the occupied territory, dozens of masked men blocked a road in the early hours and hurled rocks at Palestinian drivers who stopped their vehicles to move the obstructions, they said. One of the four people wounded was in serious condition in hospital with a fractured skull, medics said. Police arrested six Jewish activists, among them an MP, Michael Ben Ari, who represents the pro-settler National Union party. A police spokesman said Ben Ari was among protesters who entered a restricted area and denied charges that the deputy had been mistreated. Near the settlement of Yizhar, heavy smoke billowed into the air as settlers set fire to Palestinian fields. Three army patrol vehicles at a nearby junction stood by and did not intervene to stop the violence, but they prevented a Palestinian firetruck from reaching the field.
Monday, 1 June 2009
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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