Israel troops, settlers clash with Palestinians

Israel troops, settlers clash with Palestinians
(AFP) / 3 January 2013

At least two Palestinians were wounded on Thursday in clashes with Israeli forces in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian and Israeli sources told AFP.
Palestinian security sources said clashes erupted after Israeli forces entered Jenin’s industrial zone and left two people injured — a woman who was bitten by a dog and a young man who was shot in the leg.
Palestinian sources said 26-year-old Amjad Ighabariya was arrested, although it was unclear if he was the target of the raid.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that soldiers carried out a raid to arrest “a Palestinian suspected of terrorist activities” and that Palestinians had responded by throwing stones.
She said troops used “riot dispersal means” but said the target of the raid was not arrested, without commenting on Ighbariya’s reported detention.
On Tuesday, dozens of Palestinians were wounded in a village in the northern West Bank when clashes broke out between residents and Israeli undercover forces attempting to arrest a suspected member of the Islamic Jihad organisation.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli and Palestinian sources confirmed that settlers had attacked a Palestinian village overnight, injuring several people.
Palestinian security officials said a two-month-old baby was among those injured in the incident in the village of Jalud.
A military spokesman told AFP that the settlers had damaged two cars, thrown stones at houses and forcibly entered one home, beating a Palestinian who was afterwards taken to hospital.
Soldiers arrived at the village, south of the city of Nablus, and clashed with the settlers, but made no arrests, he added.
“The Israeli army takes these kinds of incidents, which threaten the security of the area, seriously,” he said.
Palestinian security officials confirmed the clashes which they said involved residents of an illegal settlement outpost called Achia, adding that stones thrown by the settlers during the incident injured a two-month-old baby.
Clashes between Palestinians and settlers have increased in the West Bank in recent months, with a radical fringe of Israelis attacking Palestinian property, including olive trees and cars.