NOVANEWS
In this Saturday, May 19, 2012 photo, an armed Jewish settler aims a rifle in the direction of Palestinian stone-throwers during clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Assira al-Kibliya. An Israeli human rights group has released a video suggesting Israeli soldiers stood by while Jewish settlers opened fire on Palestinians in Assira al-Kibliya wounding one. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh
An Israeli human rights group has released a video that suggests Israeli soldiers stood by while Jewish settlers opened fire on Palestinians in the West Bank, wounding one.
The B’tselem group says settlers from Yitzhar descended over the weekend on the nearby village of Asira al-Qibliya, where they threw rocks at Palestinian homes. Village youths confronted the settlers, and rocks started flying on both sides, B’tselem said. Settlers later opened fire, shooting a 24-year-old Palestinian man, who was hospitalized in stable condition, the group said.
Three soldiers appear in the footage, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. They apparently did not stop the settlers from throwing rocks or shooting at the Palestinians and one soldier is seen running away from the unrest.
The footage “raises grave suspicions” the soldiers did not act to prevent settlers from firing, B’tselem said.
The Israeli military said the incident was being investigated but “it appears that the video in question does not reflect the incident in its entirety.”
A spokesman for the settlement said the incident was touched off by Palestinians who set fire for the third week in a row to fields near Yitzhar. Fires were burning in the footage.
The spokesman, Avraham Binyamin, said the settlers’ security squad and firefighting team were attacked by dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks.
“When a person’s life is threatened, it’s his right to defend himself,” he said.
He said the soldier who was in command didn’t take charge of the situation and quell the unrest, and fled after being struck by a rock.
Ahmed Abdul Hadi, council chief for the Palestinian village, said settlers frequently attack their community of 3,000 people.
“This time, they clearly wanted to kill somebody,” Abdul Hadi said. “They don’t normally fire, but unfortunately, this time the army was there and watching. We hope the Israeli government will prevent the settlers from attack us, not support them.”
The Palestinian government in the West Bank called on Monday on the Israeli government to open a fair investigation to bring the attackers to justice.
Nazi settlers filmed firing guns at Palestinians
Video posted on YouTube shows settlers firing a pistol and rifles at a group of protesters while police and soldiers stand by
Israeli settlers fire at Palestinians Link to this video
A video released by an Israeli human rights group appears to show settlers shooting at a group of Palestinian protesters while police and soldiers stand by.
The incident was filmed by Palestinians from the West Bank village of Asira al-Qibliya on Saturday afternoon. A 24-year-old Palestinian, Fathi Asayira, was taken to hospital with facial injuries following the shooting.
According to B’Tselem, which uploaded the footage to YouTube, a large group of settlers, some masked and armed, approached the village from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar and began throwing rocks and starting fires. After a group of Palestinians gathered and threw rocks in return at the settlers, Israeli police and soldiers arrived on the scene.
One of the settlers is seen crouching while aiming and then firing his pistol at the group of Palestinians. Two other settlers are seen firing assault rifles.
“The video footage raises grave suspicions that the soldiers present did not act to prevent the settlers from throwing stones and firing live ammunition at the Palestinians,” said B’Tselem. “The soldiers did not try to remove the settlers and in fact are seen standing by settlers while they are shooting and stone throwing.”
In a statement, the Israeli defence forces said it was investigating the shooting. Security forces arrived at the scene following stone-throwing by both sides in an effort to separate them. “There was a shooting during the incident and the matter is being investigated‚ but on the surface, the video that was released does not seem to represent the whole incident.”
The Palestinian Authority demanded an impartial investigation into the incident and action from the international community over settler attacks and provocation. “The gravity of the footage lies not only in the settlers’ provocations and shooting live ammunition towards unarmed residents, but also in the irresponsibility of the Israeli soldiers who stood watching the events,” said a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The settlement’s spokesman, Avraham Binyamin, was quoted in the Israeli media as saying its security squad came under a hail of stones while trying to extinguish fires lit by Palestinians. “It is clear that use of arms by IDF forces or the security squad was done in a tangible life-endangering situation,” he said.
Villagers in Asira say attacks and intimidation by settlers from Yitzhar are routine. Yitzhar has a reputation for being one of the most hardline settlements in the West Bank. Israel‘s education ministry closed down a state-funded yeshiva (religious school) on the settlement last November after the security agency Shin Bet said it had accumulated evidence that students were engaged in acts of violence against Palestinian villagers.
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Ahmed Abdul Hadi, the leader of the village council, said the settlers had risked killing someone. “They don’t normally fire, but unfortunately, this time the army was there and watching. We hope the Israeli government will prevent the settlers from attack us, not support them,” he told the Associated Press.
