Rampaging settlers shatter fragile calm

The northern Palestinian West Bank is turning into a flashpoint as Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinian civilians and their property as part of a "price tag" policy. On Tuesday Walid Assaf, a Palestinian Legislative Council member, was injured after Israeli settlers near the northern West Bank city Qalqilia threw a rock through his windscreen as he drove past a settlement. On complaining to Israeli soldiers at a nearby Israeli army base, Assaf was told he would have to submit his complaint in writing. On Monday over 1,500 olive trees belonging to Palestinians near the Yitzhar settlement south of the Palestinian city Nablus were set on fire and destroyed by settlers. Several Palestinians were injured, and a number of their cars damaged when rocks were thrown at them as settlers blocked roads leading into the city. Israeli security forces subsequently arrested five settlers in altercations which saw an Israeli soldier and a settler also injured. This latest outbreak of violence followed the forcible evacuation of several illegal settler outposts by Israeli security forces, and are part of a calculated campaign by the settlers to take revenge on Palestinians for every evacuated outpost.