Armed Israeli Colonists Assault Farmers in Ramallah-Governorate Village


Ramallah: Armed Israeli colonists Friday assaulted Palestinian farmers in Shuqba village, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to local sources. They said that several colonists brandishing weapons, under army protection, attacked several villagers of Shuqba while the latter were tending to their cultivated land, north of the village and close to Route 465, which leads to the nearby village of Rantis.



According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, other villagers rushed to the scene of the assault and scuffled with the assailants before coming under gunfire from the occupation forces, without resulting in any casualty. Meanwhile, another group of colonists attacked a Palestinian-registered vehicle near the Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah, shattering its windshields.



The sources confirmed a similar colonists’ attack against a Palestinian-registered vehicle in the Turmus Ayya plain. Colonists’ violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. Colonists’ violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, and attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.



Over 700,000 Israeli colonists live in colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.