Palestinians: Settlers hurling stones at us

Dozens of right-wing activists living in illegal West Bank outpost constantly harassing local residents, Palestinians say

Amit Schneider |Published: 10.13.07 , 23:47

Dozens of settlers living in the illegal West Bank outpost of Shvut Ami have been harassing Palestinians and hurling stones at their cars, local residents told Ynet on Saturday.

Shvut Ami is one of the five outposts built by right-wing activists during the holiday of Sukkot. About 200 people arrived at the area on the day of construction, but most of them left.

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The following day, IDF forces began evacuating the outposts, but the soldiers were forced to return to Shvut Ami the week later after a number of right-wing activists returned to the area.

It appears, however, that there are several settlers still living in the illegal outpost and disrupting the lives of the local residents traveling on nearby roads.

"The road goes under the outpost, and the settlers throw stones from 5 meters above, "said Zakaria Seda, a resident of the village of Jit, near Kedumim. "Palestinians from the Qalqilya and Nablus area who pass by are harassed by the settlers."

Seda said that many drivers were injured on the road as their car windows were shattered by the stones, and that a settler even caused a road accident this week by hurling a stone at a moving car.

"The driver had to suddenly brake, and was hit in the back by another car."

'Police looking into incident'

According to Seda, he filed four different complaints with the local District Coordination Office (DCO) this week, but was ignored.

"There were many complaints to the Israel Police and the DCO, and no solution was provided. They told me they were working on it and that they would be evacuated, but unfortunately this has not happened. The Palestinians here live in fear. We seek a solution and wish to live in peace with the Israelis."

According to Seda, this was not the first time settlers disrupted Palestinians' lives in the area.

"The Palestinian residents are harassed, mainly by residents of the Havat Gilad outpost who uproot trees or set fire to their property," he claimed.

The Judea and Samaria police said in response that a report filed by a Palestinian claiming that stones were hurled at moving cars near the Jit junction was received on Friday through the DCO, and that the incident was being looked into by the police.