RAMALLAH, West Bank: A Palestinian man was critically wounded after Jewish settlers pelted his car with stones as he drove through the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, causing him to veer off the road and crash, Palestinian officials said.
Raid Kharaz lost control of his vehicle when rocks hurled by settlers smashed through the windshield near the West Bank village of Al-Mughayir, according to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settler violence.
Kharaz was flown to a nearby hospital, while his son, who was also in the vehicle, sustained lighter injuries, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The Israeli army referred questions to the police, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The autumn has seen a sharp uptick in settler violence. In mid-November, dozens of settlers attacked a group of Palestinians and Israeli activists with stones and clubs, hospitalizing a woman and wounding several others. In the same week, Jewish settlers attacked a group of Palestinian farmers with pepper spray and clubs near an evacuated settlement outpost, wounding four people.
Recent months have also seen a steep rise in settler vandalism of Palestinian property known as “price tag” attacks, a term coined by far-right settlers in response to perceived efforts by Israel to restrict settlement expansion.
Israeli officials have spoken out against the violence, especially after dozens of settlers attacked a Palestinian village in September, wounding a toddler. But the Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli soldiers rarely intervene and often side with the settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories Palestinians seek for a future state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and a barrier to peace. Israel views the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people, and says its status should be decided in negotiations.
Nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers live in over 130 settlements across the West Bank. Many are highly built up and resemble urban suburbs, while more radical settlers have established dozens of rural outposts without Israeli authorization.
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Palestinian seriously hurt after settlers hurl stones at car
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Palestinian seriously hurt after settlers hurl stones at car
Lebanon, Jordan seek solutions after Damascus bans non-Syrian trucks
- Lebanon and Jordan are seeking a solution with Syria after the latter barred foreign trucks from entering its territory, officials from both countries told AFP on Tuesday.
BEIRUT: Lebanon and Jordan are seeking a solution with Syria after the latter barred foreign trucks from entering its territory, officials from both countries told AFP on Tuesday.
Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that “non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter” the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.
The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.
Dozens of trucks unable to enter the country were lined up on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw.
Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry told AFP that discussions were underway with Damascus over the decision.
He said the issue was not specifically targeting Lebanon — which is trying to reset ties with Damascus after the fall of Bashar Assad — adding that he hoped to hold a meeting with the Syrian side soon.
Lebanon sends around 500 trucks to Syria per day, according to Tamer.
In Jordan, also affected by the decision, transport ministry spokesperson Mohammed Al-Dweiri told AFP that “discussions are currently underway, and we are awaiting a response from the Syrian side regarding allowing foreign trucks to enter and cross.”
Dweiri said that Jordanian trucks were continuing to unload their cargo at the free zone at the Nassib border crossing with Syria despite some “confusion.”
Around 250 Jordanian trucks travel to Syria daily, according to him.
A source in the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs told AFP that the decision aimed to “regulate the movement of cargo through the ports.”
Representatives of unions and associations in Lebanon’s transport sector denounced the decision on Tuesday and warning of “negative repercussions,” according to the state-run National News Agency.
Syria is the only land route Lebanon can use to export merchandise to wealthy Gulf markets.
As part of continued attempts to rekindle ties, the two countries signed an agreement on Friday to hand around 300 Syrian convicts over to Damascus.
Damascus had issued a decision on Saturday stipulating that “non-Syrian trucks will not be allowed to enter” the country, and that goods being imported by road must be unloaded at specific points at border crossings.
The decision exempts trucks that are only passing through Syria to other countries.
Dozens of trucks unable to enter the country were lined up on the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing on Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw.
Ahmad Tamer, head of land and maritime transportation at the Lebanese transport ministry told AFP that discussions were underway with Damascus over the decision.
He said the issue was not specifically targeting Lebanon — which is trying to reset ties with Damascus after the fall of Bashar Assad — adding that he hoped to hold a meeting with the Syrian side soon.
Lebanon sends around 500 trucks to Syria per day, according to Tamer.
In Jordan, also affected by the decision, transport ministry spokesperson Mohammed Al-Dweiri told AFP that “discussions are currently underway, and we are awaiting a response from the Syrian side regarding allowing foreign trucks to enter and cross.”
Dweiri said that Jordanian trucks were continuing to unload their cargo at the free zone at the Nassib border crossing with Syria despite some “confusion.”
Around 250 Jordanian trucks travel to Syria daily, according to him.
A source in the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs told AFP that the decision aimed to “regulate the movement of cargo through the ports.”
Representatives of unions and associations in Lebanon’s transport sector denounced the decision on Tuesday and warning of “negative repercussions,” according to the state-run National News Agency.
Syria is the only land route Lebanon can use to export merchandise to wealthy Gulf markets.
As part of continued attempts to rekindle ties, the two countries signed an agreement on Friday to hand around 300 Syrian convicts over to Damascus.
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