clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israeli forces block efforts to extinguish fires caused by settler arson attacks

February 14, 2014 at 11:40 am

Israeli occupation forces have blocked efforts to extinguish fires caused by Jewish settlers’ arson attacks. A fire engine sent to help was prevented from getting close to the blazes in the village of Al-Zubaidat in the Jordan Valley. Settlers set fire to a number of Palestinian-owned vehicles in the village on Wednesday morning; four cars, one truck and a tractor were destroyed. A further four vehicles were set on fire in the nearby village of Al-Mazraa.


The settlers also sprayed graffiti on several walls in Al-Zubaidat which suggested that they belong to the so-called “Price Tag” groups which have been carrying out most assaults against Palestinians and their properties across the occupied West Bank.

Sources in Al-Zubaidat told the Palestinian news agency Safa that Israeli occupation forces accompanied the settlers until they were at a military checkpoint in the area. It was there that they blocked the progress of the fire engine sent from the city of Tobas. Residents say that this proves the security forces’ complicity in the settlers’ attacks.

According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth the Israeli forces launched an investigation into the incidents. It also reported that the head of the village council, who is an Israeli, condemned the act and accused the perpetrators of “trying to spoil peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis in the village”.