Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh warned of escalating violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their properties across the occupied West Bank, condemning their attacks against local communities in the occupied territories.
Faraan: Speaking at a weekly cabinet session in the northeastern West Bank city of Tubas, Shtayyeh stated that the Palestinian Authority condemns the seizure of Palestinian farms by hundreds of Israeli settlers in northern West Bank as well as their putting of signs on the roads prohibiting farmers from reaching their lands, Press TV reported.
“Tubas and the Jordan Valley areas witness gradual annihilation of the West Bank. Israel continues to destroy the Palestinian lands, plows them with tanks and heavy military vehicles, and destroys all elements of Palestinian steadfastness,” he said. Shtayyeh added that Israeli authorities “are expelling the Palestinians from their living places under the pretext of military training and prevent them from returning to their homes.”
The Palestinian prime minister’s remarks came on the same day that Israeli settlers stormed the West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara, and vandalized stores, homes, and vehicles in a violent attack that left three Palestinians injured.
The Israeli army said in a statement that “there was an altercation between settlers and Palestinians, in which several Palestinian vehicles and businesses in Huwara were damaged.” “The altercation began when a number of vehicles traveling in a convoy on Route 60 through the Huwara threw stones” causing extensive damage, the statement added.
According to Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, the attack occurred in full view of Israeli military forces, who often heavily patrol that section of the road. Yesh Din said that a group of extremist Israeli settlers arrived in a convoy of cars accompanied by Israeli troops, from the direction of the Tapuah junction, and that the convoy played loud music.
The convoy stopped in Huwara, which lies south of Nablus. Those in the vehicles threw stones at Palestinian cars, stores, and homes, shattering windows and injuring three Palestinians, the rights group noted.
