Witnesses say settlers attacked Palestinian farmers near Nablus

By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent

Palestinian and Israeli witnesses said Saturday that a group of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers near the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, and that shots were fired in the area. The Israeli witnesses and a farmer representative filed a complaint at the Ariel police station.

According to Yoel Marshak, who heads the Kibbutz Movement's national mission department, five Israelis arrived Friday to assist farmers from Kfar Salim, adjacent to the settlement of Elon Moreh.

"At one point, the settlers appeared in front of the tractors and prevented their work. Others drove away the sheep in the area. They claimed that it was their land," Marshak said.

Two police officers arrived at the scene and said they would investigate early next week.

According to Marshak, "The Palestinian farmers turned away, but then 40 settlers from Skali Farm and Elon Moreh chased them. Ten of them were armed. They beat the Palestinians, and a brawl ensued. Suddently one of them fired two shots. I found one of the cartridges. The Israeli volunteers demanded that police arrest the perpetrators."

Palestinian witnesses said Saturday that a group of settlers attacked an elderly Palestinian farmer.

The Israel Defense Forces said it responded to reports of the beating and found an injured man. An IDF medical unit treated him on the scene and an ambulance evacuated him to an Israeli hospital, the army said. He was in moderate condition.

The man, Sabir Ahmed Ishtaya, 68, from Kfar Salim, near Nablus, left early in the morning to work his fields, witnesses said. When he did not return, family members went searching for him and found him lying wounded in the field.

Adli Ishtaya, head of the local council, said the injured man said he was beaten by a settler.

In response, people from the village sat in protest at the entrance to the outpost near Alon Moreh where the attacker allegedly came from.

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