A group of about 100 settlers from a northern West Bank settlement attacked Palestinians and their homes in the village of Asira al-Qibiliya on Tuesday, locals told AFP. An AFP correspondent at the scene said locals and settlers were clashing, with both sides throwing stones. Some of the settlers were armed and fired their weapons, he said. Shortly after the settlers arrived in the village, which lies just south of Nablus, Israeli border police and troops arrived at the scene and fired rubber bullets and tear gas to try and bring the situation under control, the correspondent said. “There are forces there trying to separate the two sides,” a military spokeswoman told AFP, saying troops had arrived at the scene at around 3:00pm (1200 GMT). The correspondent said several villagers were injured including a journalist from the Palestinian state news agency WAFA who was beaten by settlers in front of witnesses. He also said a 14-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being hit by a tear-gas canister, with the account corroborated by a group of activists monitoring settler attacks as part of a new campaign launched on Monday, called “Eyes of Resistance”. Locals said the settlers had entered the village from the nearby hardline settlement of Yitzhar, throwing stones at residents and their homes and discharging their weapons.
