Description

Photos:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News, May 17, 2019

One of the settlers seen setting fields on fire in B'Tselem's documentation. Credit: B'Tselem / Screengrab Published by Haaretz, 5/23/19

Videos: see Haaretz News Source Links
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UPDATE

Israeli Army Blamed Palestinians for Arson by Settlers. Then a Video Emerged

The Israeli military had originally claimed that only Palestinians set fire to West Bank fields, but changed versions after video released by NGO B'Tselem showed otherwise

by Yotam Berger for Haaretz
May 23, 2019 11:22 AM

The Israeli military admitted on Thursday that Jewish settlers set West Bank fields on fire last Friday, changing its version after it originally blamed the arson on Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces' Spokesperson's Unit confirmed that settlers, too, were responsbile for the blazes after Israeli human rights nonprofit organization B'Tselem published on Wednesday a video clip that shows that the settlers took part in igniting the fires.

Clashes broke out on Friday in the area between the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar and the nearby Palestinian villages of Burin, Urif and Asira al-Qibliya, with settlers and Palestinians accusing each other of setting farm fields on fire.

In one video taken by Palestinians during the confrontations, settlers are seen standing close to a home in a Palestinian village and throwing rocks at nearby houses. Four soldiers can be seen standing among the settlers and doing nothing to stop them.

In a written statement, the Israeli army originally said that together with Border Police troops and civilian volunteers, it had worked to extinguish "a fire set by Palestinians near Asira al-Qibliya" that was "approaching Yitzhar and a military outpost."

B'Tselem's video shows that at least two settlers set fields on fire. Another video shows settlers at Yitzhar fields, lighting fires that quickly spread.

Changing its version following the videos' publication, the Israeli military stated that "several fires were set and quickly spread" in the West Bank, and that at the same time, "about 20 residents went down to the outskirts of the village of Asira al-Qibliya and began throwing stones.”

The IDF also said it put up a fence between Yitzhar and Urif after settlers assaulted villagers on April 13. In that incident, settlers were filmed throwing rocks at a vehicle driven by a Palestinian family. In addition to the fence, the Border Police increased its presence in the area
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by IMEMC News
Published May 17, 2019 12:52 PM

A group of fanatic illegal Israeli colonists invaded, Friday, Palestinian agricultural lands in ‘Aseera al-Qibliya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and burnt them.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian authority official who monitors Israel’s colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said more than 60 illegal colonists invaded the farmlands, in the southern area of the village, and set them ablaze.

He added that the colonists also hurled stones at several nearby homes, before the locals intercepted them.

In related news, a group of colonists hurled stones at many cars and homes in Marda village, north of Salfit, in central West Bank. Causing damage, and wrote racist graffiti on several cars and walls.
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WATCH Israeli Soldiers Stand by as Settlers Pelt Palestinians With Rocks

A fire broke out near a West Bank village, leading to a confrontation between the two parties, with each side blaming the other

by Yotam Berger for Haaretz
20.05.2019 09:15 Updated: 9:16 AM

The incident took place near Asira al-Qibliya, a village close to the settlement of Yitzhar.

The video, taken by Palestinians at a home in the village, shows settlers close to the house, throwing rocks at nearby houses. Four soldiers standing among the settlers take no action to stop them.

The incident came after fires broke out between Yitzhar and Asira al-Qibliya, with settlers and Palestinians accusing each other of setting them. Villagers told activists from the human rights group Yesh Din that the fire began between Asira al-Qibliya and the adjacent village of Urif, and that settlers began throwing rocks and setting additional fires among its homes.

A spokesman for Yitzhar said Palestinians from Urif set the fires in order to damage the adjacent settlements of Har Bracha and Sneh Yaakov.

In a written statement, the Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israel Defense Forces said that army and Border Police troops, together with civilian volunteers, worked to extinguish a fire set by Palestinians near Asira al-Qibliya that was approaching Yitzhar and a military outpost.

“Around 20 settlers neared Asira al-Qibliya and began throwing stones. The soldiers called on them to desist and called Border Policemen as reinforcements, while trying to find the villagers who had started the fires. The gathering was dispersed shortly afterwards by Border Policemen. Security forces will continue to act to prevent violence and defend the security of local residents,” the statement said.

The IDF also said it put up a fence between Yitzhar and Urif after settlers assaulted villagers on April 13. In that incident, settlers were filmed throwing rocks at a vehicle driven by a Palestinian family. In addition to the fence, the Border Police increased its presence in the area.

In a letter responding to a question from Meretz Chairwoman Tamar Zandberg, the office of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that in addition to erecting the fence, “significant Border Police forces were added to the area, maintaining an around-the-clock presence.”

In response, Zandberg said it was unacceptable that increasing numbers of soldiers have to engage in daily policing missions among a civilian population that is a victim of settler aggression. “The incitement-preaching yeshiva in Yitzhar should be shut down. The settlement has become an incubator of Jewish terror and should be evacuated.”

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