Settlers attack Palestinians while Israeli soldiers stand by, watch

Israeli occupation forces were filmed “standing idly by” while Jewish settlers threw stones at Palestinians on Tuesday morning, reported Haaretz.

The incident took place near the Palestinian village of Einabus, not far from the settlement of Yitzhar in the occupied West Bank.

According to the paper, “the area has been a focal point for clashes between Palestinians and settlers, which have intensified in recent weeks”.

Haaretz reported that the army confirmed that settlers “threw rocks at a vehicle that was paving a road in the area and kicked the farmer driving it”.

Some 20 masked Israeli settlers are shown in videos recorded by Rabbis for Human Rights field coordinator Zakaria Sada, with a number of masked settlers seen “throwing rocks” while “several soldiers standing nearby try to keep them away”.

Read: Israel settler violence ‘on the rise’ this year, says UN

Israeli soldiers did, however, use “crowd control measures” – but “on the Palestinians who the army said ‘clashed’ with the settlers”, Haaretz noted.

In a recent report, United Nations monitors on the ground said that violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has been increasing in 2018.