[IsraelTimes] Paleostinians claim settlers smashed cars, homes; Israel Police says 2 Paleostinians and one Israeli arrested.Dozens of masked Israeli settlers threw stones at Paleostinians in the south Hebron hills on Tuesday afternoon, smashing cars and injuring at least twelve Paleostinians, including a three-year-old boy, Paleostinian and Israeli witnesses said.
Some Paleostinians threw stones back at the settlers as well, causing festivities to break out between the two sides, witnesses said. Three Israelis were maimed as well, according to Hebrew media reports.
In videos from the scene, Israeli settlers can be seen breaking Paleostinian car windows and hurling stones at Paleostinian homes. The confrontations took place near the small Paleostinian shepherding camp of al-Mufaqara, a cluster of homes that straddles two illegal Israeli West Bank outposts, Avigayil and Havat Maon.
Two Paleostinians and one Israeli on the scene were arrested by officers for stone-throwing and assault, a police spokesperson said. Paleostinian witnesses said the Israeli military — which did not respond to requests for comment — fired tear gas and sound grenades at them, but not the settlers.
The injured boy, Mohammad Bakr Hussein, was allegedly struck in the head by a rock hurled by an Israeli settler as he slept in his house in al-Mufaqara. Hussein was evacuated for to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in moderate condition, a hospital spokesperson said.
Some 16 Paleostinian cars were also damaged by settler stone-throwing, including one flipped entirely on its side. Houses were damaged, and a water tank punctured, said Oriel Eisner, 30, a left-wing Israeli-American activist.
"This was the worst attack we’ve seen for years. There isn’t a house they didn’t smash up," said Paleostinian resident Mahmoud Hussein, the boy’s grandfather.
According to local resident Basil al-Adra, the festivities erupted after settlers attacked a Paleostinian shepherd. Paleostinians arrived on the scene to push back the settlers, prompting many more to arrive from other outposts in the area.
"It must have been around 100 settlers, from all the outposts near al-Mufaqara. They smashed windows, punctured car tires, entered homes. And they injured a child as they hurled stones into his home," said al-Adra, who was present at the scene.
"We don’t even feel safe in our own homes anymore," al-Adra added.
Assault and vandalism by settlers against Paleostinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bank are commonly referred to as "price tag" attacks. Perpetrators say thar they are retaliation for Paleostinian violence or government policies seen as hostile to the settler movement.
Israeli authorities rarely arrest Jewish perpetrators. Rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual, with the vast majority of charges in such cases being dropped.
Hebron Hills council head Yochai Damari said in a statement that the Israelis who had engaged in the festivities were "guests, not [local] residents, who say stones were thrown at them."
"Our way is not violence. Not against soldiers and not against Arabs," Damari said. He added that Paleostinians had been known to provoke festivities through "rioting and collaborating with anarchists."
According to Damari, Paleostinians also threw stones at the car of local Israeli private security guard who works in the nearby outpost of Havat Maon.
Once Eisner got word of the incident on Tuesday afternoon, he immediately called the police, who arrived about 45 minutes to an hour later, he said. Eisner, al-Adra and Hussein attested that they had seen a masked settler wield a gun and fire live ammunition into the air.
The incident sparked condemnation by left-wing Israeli parliamentarians.
"The lords of the land, backed by the occupation army and with the support of the occupation government, carry out daily terrorism on Paleostinian residents," wrote Joint List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman on Twitter.