West Bank settlers injure IDF officer

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Five settlers were arrested and the commander of a paratrooper battalion was slightly wounded during a clash between settlers and security forces which broke out on Friday near the settlement of Bracha west of Nablus.

On Friday morning, Israel Defense Forces paratroopers stationed at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus noticed a parked Israeli vehicle whose passengers were standing outside, throwing rocks at Palestinian trucks. The company commander arrived in a jeep and saw the settlers enter the car and drive toward Bracha.


Additional soldiers arrived under battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Guy Hazut. Together with Judea and Samaria district police, they pursued the suspects into the settlement, who had split up and barricaded themselves inside two homes. More settlers soon arrived and began to insult and push the officers.

During the scuffle, one suspect sneaked out of the house where he had been hiding. Hazut chased him, but was then confronted by another settler, who first slammed an iron gate on him and then knocked him to the ground, injuring him in the knee. The officer was taken to the Rabin Medical center at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for treatment and then released.

Police arrested five suspects. Hazut has filed a police complaint against his attackers.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/570609.html