RAMALLAH, Several Palestinian civilians were injured today, some of them by live bullets, in an attack by army-backed Israeli settlers on the village of Sinjil, to the north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
Mohammad Ghafri, a local Palestinian journalist, told WAFA that a group of Israeli settlers backed by army attacked Palestinians who were present in their own lands that are threatened with Israeli confiscation, adding that the settlers vandalized six Palestinian-owned vehicles during the attack.
Ghafri pointed out that the Israeli soldiers accompanying the settlers in their attack opened live gunfire and rubber-coated rounds at the Palestinian villagers, injuring two Palestinian young men by live shots in the hand and foot, and injuring many others by rubber-coated rounds. Another three Palestinians also suffered bruises after being beaten up by soldiers.
At least one Palestinian was arrested by Israeli soldiers during the attack.
Last week, Israeli bulldozers broke into the area and razed nearly six dunums of Palestinian land for the purpose of opening a settler-only road linking a number of nearby Israeli settlements.
Ever since, Palestinian villagers have intensified their presence in their own lands there and removed structures built recently there by Israeli settlers, but have been attacked several times by Israeli settlers and army.
Only yesterday, six Palestinian civilians sustained injuries, one of them by gunfire, in an attack by Israeli settlers on the village, according to local sources.
Witnesses told WAFA that a group of around 20 Israeli settlers, masked and armed with rifles and backed by army, opened gunfire at Palestinian farmers and physically assaulted many of them while they were planting olive saplings in their own lands near the village.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency