Extremist Israeli settlers today assaulted a group of Palestinian civilians and attempted to uproot trees in their lands in the town of Tarqumia, to the west of southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.

Suleiman Jaafra, a local Palestinian activist, told WAFA that a group of settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Telm physically assaulted Palestinian civilians and beat them up while present in their own lands near the town. He added that the settlers attempted to uproot olive trees if it wasn’t for the intervention of the residents who forced the settlers out of the lands.

An Israeli army force later arrived in the area and secured the settlers’ return to the settlement, Jaafra added.

This is the latest in an unprecedented wave of settler terrorism targeting Palestinians and their property across the occupied West Bank.

Last week, hundreds of settlers raided the Palestinian village of Hawara, south of Nablus in the north of the West Bank, killing an aid worker and injuring many others while setting hundreds of vehicles and homes on fire.

M.N./M.K.

SOURCE: PALESTINE NEWS & INFO AGENCY