Settlers, Palestinians clash in West Bank

[oberliner]

Who's telling the truth? Dozens of settlers from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar rioted in the village of Asira al-Kabaliya, Palestinian sources reported Friday. According to the report, several Palestinians were beaten up by settlers, who also caused extensive property damage in the village.


However, according to the settlers, Palestinians from a nearby village provoked the latest clash after setting a wheat field owned by Yitzhar residents on fire. The settlers said that teams who arrived on the scene to put out the fire were stoned by Palestinians, and claimed that this was the third time in the past two weeks that villagers set fields on fire.


Around 6 pm Friday, police in Samaria received a report about settlers and Palestinians hurling stones at each other near Yitzhar. Police were also told that a field in the area was set on fire.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3544234,00.html

[Crunchy Frog]

1. A good illustration of why the settlements are a bad idea.

[Scurrilous]

2. Seems to be a regular occurence:

Settlers, Palestinians clash near Nablus (05.03.08)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3538961,00.html

IDF claims Palestinians burned settlers' fields while Palestinians say army actively cooperates with settlers

<snip>

"Residents of Asira al-Kabaliya, a village near Nablus, claimed on Saturday that hundreds of settlers from the nearby Jewish settlement of Itzhar attacked them and damaged much of the village property. They also said that two of the residents were injured, and had to be evacuated to a Nablus hospital.

The IDF denied the Palestinian residents' allegations, claiming that they were the ones who sparked the conflict when they climbed towards the settlement, burning the settlers' fields.

IDF sources claimed that the situation deteriorated to stone-throwing from both sides, as the Palestinians walked from their village up the hill on which Itzhar is located while burning the settlers' property.

Similar conflicts have been known to take place in the area, due to vehement arguments over ownership of land.

IDF forces arrived at the scene with the objective of separating the two sides. The army denied the claim that settlers entered the Palestinian village. None of those involved in the incident have filed a complaint, and no one was arrested.

According to the Palestinian residents, the settlers damaged a few houses, set fire to some vehicles, burned dozens of acres of agricultural fields and beat a number of Palestinian youths.

One of the residents told Ynet that "the soldiers spread out on the roofs of the houses and pointed their rifles at anyone daring to object, while settlers fired, broke, and beat."

[Vegasaurus]

3. War makes both sides more radicalized

The longer this conflict continues, the more radicalized they both become.

It's very sad/