From Khalid Amayreh in al-Khalil
Religious Jewish terrorists on Wednesday attacked a small Arab village north of al-Khalil (Hebron), shooting randomly on civilians and vandalizing homes and businesses.Eyewitnesses said as many as a hundred settler terrorists descended on the small village of Safa, 10 kilometers northwest of al-Khalil, with the purpose of carrying out a pogrom against local inhabitants.
The terrorists were escorted by several Israeli army soldiers who reportedly made no effort to stop the terrorists who were shouting “death to the Arabs.”
The Palestinians, fearing for their lives, hurled stones at the rampaging settlers to prevent them from setting fire to Palestinian property, prompting Israeli soldiers to open fire at the Palestinians.
At least 28 people were reportedly wounded with live ammunition, including a boy who was shot in the chest.
Medical sources said Thaer Nasser Adi, 17, was in serious but stable condition at the Ahli hospital in al-Khalil.
The mayor of the nearby town of Beit Ummar, Nasri Sabarna, described the settler rampage as “an unprovoked criminal act against innocent and peaceable people.”
Sabarna said the settlers wanted to terrorize the Palestinian villagers in order to take over their land and property.
He accused the right-wing Israeli government of giving Jewish terrorists a green light to attack Palestinians and vandalize their property.
“The present government is a government of settlers, by the settlers, for the settlers. I believe there is a full coordination between the settlers and the army.”
Muhammed, a local villager, called the settlers “savages and Nazis.”
“These people go to their religious Talmudic schools in the morning, and in the afternoon they come here to attack us, terrorize our women and children and sabotage our property. What kind of religion are they following?”
Muhammed called on the international community to provide protection against “these barbarians who want to kill us and expel us from our land.”
He lashed out at the Israeli army for its “connivance and collusion” with the settlers, saying that the army and the settlers were “two sides of the same coin.”
Al-Khalil governor Hussein al Araj, who arrived at the village soon after the disturbances, accused the Israeli army of failing to protect Palestinians from the settlers.
“I believe the settlers wouldn’t dare attack the village without at least a tacit approval from the Israeli army.”
Al-Araj held the Israeli army fully responsible for this “pogrom,” saying that Palestinians in the occupied territories needed international protection.
He added that settler attacks and terror would continue as long as “these criminal squatters remain here.”
The small settlement outpost, known as Beit Ayn, is home to extremist settlers who are indoctrinated in Jewish supremacy.
A few years ago, some of the settlers from Beit Ayn were caught implanting a large explosive charge at a Palestinian school near Jerusalem.
The explosion would have killed and injured dozens of Palestinian children.
Last week, a settler was killed, ostensibly in retaliation for the murder of Palestinians by settler terrorists.
Normally, the Israeli justice system deals extremely lightly with settlers who murder Palestinians.
During the al-Aqsa intifada, the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish terrorists killed thousands of Palestinians, the vast majority of whom innocent civilians, to suppress Palestinian aspirations for freedom from decades of the Nazi-like Israeli military occupation.
According to an Israeli human rights organization, only a handful of cases of murder were investigated.
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