Jewish settlers attack a Palestinian bus in O. J’lem

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- A group of Israeli settlers attacked late Sunday a Palestinian bus near Hazma town east of occupied Jerusalem.

Eyewitnesses told a PIC reporter that a bus, carrying a Palestinian delegation, was subjected to a stone throwing attack while on its way back from Duma town south of Nablus after offering condolences to the settlers’ arson attack victim.

Eyewitnesses affirmed that a group of settlers standing at the main road were throwing stones and empty bottles at passing by Palestinian vehicles.

Three passengers were injured during the attack, the sources added.

The violence by extremist settlers against Palestinian citizens and their properties have notably increased. Perpetrators are rarely tried, and many cases are not investigated at all or are closed with no operative conclusions.

http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=72850

Fabrication

Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians quadruple, says UN

Trees have been cut down, mosques defaced and farmers beaten



The annual rate of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians has almost quadrupled in eight years, UN figures show, buttressing claims that Israeli security forces have largely failed to stem the so-called “price tag” campaign in which thugs cut down trees, deface mosques and beat Palestinian farmers.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly denounced such attacks - the defence minister last week branded them “outright terrorism” - and the military says soldiers are under strict orders to stop them.

Nonetheless, critics say Israeli governments stacked with pro-settler politicians have often been reluctant to confront settlers, even those seen as a hardline fringe.

“There is not enough pressure from the prime minister, the defence minister, the interior minister to prevent this,” said Gadi Zohar, a former senior army commander in the occupied West Bank.

A dramatic incident near this Palestinian farming village last week highlighted the potential of such attacks to escalate and jeopardize fragile US-led peace efforts. “Price tag” refers to settler attacks on Palestinians in response to army actions against any of dozens of West Bank settlement outposts.

Last week’s events began when troops uprooted olive trees planted on private Palestinian land by settlers from the Esh Kodesh outpost.

Later that day, about 20 Israelis moved toward nearby villages, including Qusra. Palestinians said the settlers damaged olive trees, and were caught by villagers after a stone-throwing clash and held by them for more than two hours before being handed to the army.

Footage of the settlers surrounded by an angry crowd led the TV news in Israel that day, with commentators saying serious bloodshed was averted by Palestinians who shielded the settlers.

Seven Israelis were questioned and placed under house arrest, police said. Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon warned he would show zero tolerance, but Palestinians are sceptical.

So far there have been at least two cases of vandalism in apparent response to the Qusra incident. Today residents of a village in the area reported that the door of a mosque was set on fire and graffiti read “Blood for blood, Qusra.”

Settlers have damaged hundreds of trees in Qusra, killed 18 sheep, torched six cars and set fire to a mosque in dozens of attacks, said mayor Abdel Azim Wadi. The village has lost half its lands to settlements.

The mayor said Israeli soldiers either stand by during settler attacks or fire tear gas, rubber bullets and occasionally live rounds at Palestinians if the attacks escalate into stone-throwing clashes. A Qusra man was killed by army fire and dozens were wounded by settlers and soldiers, he said.

Palestinians say “price tag” is part of Israel’s policy of cementing control over the West Bank, the largest of three war-won areas the Palestinians want for a state. They note that Israel has been providing practical support for outposts even though they were set up without formal government permission.

“Who gives them water, electricity, who gives them security, and paves their streets?” said Qusra resident Abdel Hakim Odeh.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-settler-attacks-on-palestinians-quadruple-says-un-9062456.html

From last year, but they have increased even from that.

Duma attack: 'Israeli settlers are burning everything'
Attacks on Palestinians have become more intense over the past two years as Israeli settlers enjoy impunity.

Duma, occupied West Bank - Pulling out his smartphone, Hassan Dawabsheh stares at pictures of his nephew Ali, the18-month-old Palestinian baby who was killed in an arson attack on his home on Friday.

"Ali was always smiling and laughing," Hassan said. "He was so young, so innocent."

The arson attack, carried out by suspected Israeli settlers, has been labelled an act of "terror" by both the Palestinian and Israeli governments. Outrage over the killing sparked demonstrations throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers amid the protests on Saturday.

Ali's father Saad and his wife Reham remain in critical condition on life support in hospital with up to 80 and 90 percent burns respectively, while their remaining son, 4-year-old Ahmed, is being treated for 60 percent burns.

"It's tragic, I can't explain it. There are no words I can use," Dawabsheh told Al Jazeera. "We remember what happened to Mohammed Abu Khdeir. No one is able to help us and give us [our] rights."

The killing has drawn international condemnation and evoked memories of the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16 year-old Palestinian who was kidnapped from his home in East Jerusalem and burned alive by Israeli settlers last July.

"If they take no measures to stop these things, it's going to happen again. It happened before, it has happened now and it will happen in the future," Dawabsheh said.

That sentiment is shared by the Dawabsheh's neighbours, whose house was also set ablaze in the attack. The parents and their five children were not at home at the time, but they came straight to Duma once they heard about the attack. They found the first floor of their home burned and Hebrew graffiti scrawled on two walls, stating "revenge" and "long live the messiah".

Treading carefully over broken glass and the charred remains of her front room, Umm Mustafa said the attack left her fearful for the future.

"I am shocked. We haven't done anything to them," she told Al Jazeera. "The settlers are not even our neighbours. Duma is a very calm, quiet village that has done nothing to anyone."

A sleepy village of around 3,000 inhabitants, Duma's men mostly work in the public sector or in the construction industry in Israel. Two Israeli settlements, Maaleh Efraim and Shilo, both illegal under international law, are located within a few kilometres.

Palestinians cannot carry weapons, for Israelis' security. But for Palestinians, there is no such thing as security.

Umm Mustafa, a Duma resident

Last year, Israeli settlers torched two cars in Duma and they have destroyed olive trees on village land before, but they had never done anything this bad, Umm Mustafa said.

"We do not feel safe. I am considering leaving the village and moving to Nablus permanently," she said. "Palestinians cannot carry weapons, for Israelis' security. But for Palestinians, there is no such thing as security. How can you feel safe in your house after this? I was lucky. I was just lucky I was not here."

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recorded 120 incidences of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to date this year.

Human rights group Al-Haq has recorded 42 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between January and May 2015. The group's general director, Shawan Jabarin, told Al Jazeera that attacks by Israeli setters against Palestinians had become more intense over the past two years.

"Where they have burned books, they will ultimately burn people as well," Jabarin said, citing a famous line from German playwright Heinrich Heine's Almansor play.

"What happened yesterday, and what happened a year ago with Abu Khdier, it is connected with what Israeli settlers are doing everywhere. They are burning crops. They are burning trees. They are burning everything. And they are burning people."

RELATED: Anti-Palestinian arson attacks on the rise

According to a July report from the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, 85 percent of investigations into allegations of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians are closed by the police, due to their failure to locate suspects or find evidence. The group also reported that only a third of legal cases resulted in full or partial convictions.

"There is no accountability. Because of that, the settlers feel they are enjoying impunity," Jabaran said. "We have to put it in this context. The big picture is that Israeli settlers are attacking, shooting and burning Palestinians every day. If you ask me if this will be the last time, I would say 'no way'. The soldiers, the commanders, the Israeli political leaders are part of the crime."

At the Dawabsheh's ruined home, Saad's cousin Waf, 26, said that the family would help build a new place for the couple, just in front of the burned house.

As for the gutted structure that still stands, he thinks it should not be destroyed.

"We will leave the house as it is, as a memorial and a reminder of the violence of the settlers," Waf said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/duma-attack-israeli-settlers-burning-150802084140699.html

Still nothing to back the first article

Also the United nations.
Not no need to say anything more on something which is not fit for purpose.
It has the likes of saudi, Iran etc on its human rights council.
That is nothing short of a joke

Cuchulain wrote:Also the United nations.
Not no need to say anything more on something which is not fit for purpose.
It has the likes of saudi, Iran etc on its human rights council.
That is nothing short of a joke

This incident was also reported by Donia Al-Watan.

http://english.alwatanvoice.com/news/2015/08/03/753010.html

About Donia Al-Watan

https://www.linkedin.com/company/donia-al-watan

Irn Bru wrote:

Cuchulain wrote:Also the United nations.
Not no need to say anything more on something which is not fit for purpose.
It has the likes of saudi, Iran etc on its human rights council.
That is nothing short of a joke

This incident was also reported by Donia Al-Watan.

http://english.alwatanvoice.com/news/2015/08/03/753010.html

About Donia Al-Watan

https://www.linkedin.com/company/donia-al-watan

Is dickhead saying it didn't happen?   Like anyone cares what he says, Zionist prick.

If it hadn't been reported in the West, he would have denied the babies death, he'd crawl up Netenyahu's arsehole given half a chance.