Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Village After Shooting

Israeli soldiers and settlers clash with Palestinians during a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements near the West Bank town of Salfit, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli soldiers and settlers clash with Palestinians during a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements near the West Bank town of Salfit, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Village After Shooting

Israeli soldiers and settlers clash with Palestinians during a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements near the West Bank town of Salfit, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli soldiers and settlers clash with Palestinians during a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements near the West Bank town of Salfit, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank overnight, setting brush fires and hurling stones, Palestinian officials and an Israeli rights group said Monday.

It appeared to be a revenge attack after three Israelis were wounded in a drive-by shooting at a nearby traffic junction on Sunday.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said dozens of settlers attacked the village of Jaloud. It circulated videos showing the fires, with people shouting in the background.

Israeli security forces arrested 11 Palestinians and four people were wounded by rubber bullets, B'Tselem said, The Associated Press reported.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, provided a similar account, saying the villagers had come out to defend the village after the settlers attacked.

The Israeli military said Israeli civilians and Palestinians hurled rocks at each other outside the village and that “a number of locations were ignited.”

It did not provide details on what triggered the violence. It said around 10 people were detained, but did not identify them.

Radical Israeli settlers have been known to carry out so-called “price tag” attacks on Palestinian communities in response to violence or perceived Israeli plans to restrict settlement activity.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. Nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 100 settlements scattered across the West Bank, which is home to some 2.5 million Palestinians.

The Palestinians view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be a harsh response to Sunday's shooting.

“We will not allow terrorism to raise its head and we will strike our enemies with force,” he said Sunday.

Clashes broke out in another village in the northern West Bank late Sunday during an Israeli military raid.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said five people were wounded by live ammunition in the village of Beita.

The military said troops entered the village to search for suspected attackers after the shooting. It said Palestinians hurled rocks and firebombs at the soldiers, who responded by opening fire.



Iran Confirms Receiving 'Messages' from New Syrian Government

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
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Iran Confirms Receiving 'Messages' from New Syrian Government

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP

Iran said Saturday that it had received messages from the new government in Damascus following the ouster of its longtime Syrian ally, former president Bashar al-Assad, AFP reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is indirectly in contact with Damascus," Tehran's special envoy for Syrian affairs Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency.

The diplomat said Iran had "also received messages" from Syria, but did not specify the intermediary country facilitating the communication.

Sheibani was responding to a question about recent comments by Syria's foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, regarding communications with Iran, according to IRNA.

"Our view of the developments in Syria and the restoration of relations with Damascus is forward-looking," Sheibani said, emphasizing that Iran was "thoughtfully" monitoring the situation there.

Iran, a staunch ally of Assad's regime, evacuated its diplomatic mission in Syria in December when opposition forces, led by current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, overthrew the government.

Sharaa said in December that Syria "cannot continue without relations with an important regional country like Iran".

He added that ties between Damascus and Tehran "must be based on respect for the sovereignty of both countries and non-interference in the affairs of both countries".

Iran had provided assistance to Assad during Syria's civil war, helping him claw back control of swathes of the country.

Sheibani, who previously served as Iran's ambassador to Syria, reiterated Tehran's position that the "future and destiny" of Syria must be determined by Syrians alone.

"The stability and peace of Syria are of particular importance to us, and we are against any foreign interference in the affairs of this country," he said.