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JENIN (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of Israeli settlers gathered on a main road in the northern West Bank on Monday and hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles, witnesses said.

Locals told Ma'an that settlers arrived in buses to an intersection near the town of Yaabad near Jenin. Under guard by Israeli troops, the settlers climbed a hill and began to hurl stones at Palestinian vehicles.

While throwing the rocks, the settlers chanted "Death to Arabs," witnesses said.

The stones smashed through the windshields of several Palestinian vehicles as soldiers stood by, locals told Ma'an.

An Israeli army spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank is largely ignored by Israeli authorities, who rarely intervene in the violent attacks or prosecute the perpetrators.

In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
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