RAMALLAH, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), A young Palestinian man sustained bruises on Thursday afternoon after being deliberately run over by an Israeli settler while performing the Asr (afternoon) prayer near the entrance of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The incident comes amid a surge in settler attacks targeting Palestinian civilians and their property.
Local sources reported that since Thursday morning, groups of settlers had blocked the entrance to Deir Jarir, assaulting residents and homes with stones and preventing vehicles from passing.
During the closure, one young man stepped aside to pray near the main road when a settler, riding an off-road agricultural vehicle (a quad bike), drove from a distance and deliberately ran him over. After the attack, the settler threatened the man and ordered him to leave the area. The injured man was later transferred to a nearby medical center for treatment.
Sources added that tension around the town had been building since the morning, when a settler entered between homes in Deir Jarir to graze cattle. Residents confronted him, prompting larger settler groups to storm the town’s entrance, escalating into confrontations.
In a related development, Hassan Mleihat, General Coordinator of the Al-Baydar Rights Organization, said settler groups, accompanied by their horses, stormed areas surrounding homes in the Hamroush area of Sa’ir, north of al-Khalil, deliberately provoking residents. These actions occurred in full view of the Israeli police and military, with no intervention to stop the assaults.
Meanwhile, in southern Nablus, settlers reportedly smashed the windows of a truck near the Za’tara checkpoint by throwing stones. In southern al-Khalil, settlers dressed in military uniforms detained several residents in the Rajoum I’lay area of Masafer Yatta, assaulted them, and arrested two brothers, while simultaneously releasing their livestock into agricultural fields, causing further damage.
