On Saturday Israeli settlers from Yitzhar clashed with Palestinians in what I expect may generate a fair amount of international outrage, just as happened with the flotilla incident. Here are the two sides of the story:
The Israeli settlers are saying that the Palestinians set fire to a field adjacent to their settlement and then when they arrived to put it out, the Palestinians started throwing stones. Apparently this is the third week in a row that Palestinians set fire to the field (via Jerusalem Post):
Avraham, in turn, said the incident started after Palestinians lit fire to fields near the settlements. He added that this is the third week in a row that such fires have been set.
When firefighters and security personnel from the settlement descended to try and put out the flames, they were attacked by an “inflamed mob” of Palestinians who stoned them.
The security personnel, whose lives were endangered, shot to protect themselves, he said.
As you might suspect, the Palestinians tell a completely different story, one that I find to be pretty unbelievable. They claim that the Israeli settlers started the fire to the field and then started throwing stones at them first, and they responded by throwing stones back at the settlers in return (via Jerusalem Post):
According to B’Tselem, settlers lit fire to the grassy field near the village, came within a short distance of the homes and threw rocks. It noted that one of the settlers brandished a Tavor rifle used by the infantry and speculated that one of the men was a soldier on leave.
In addition, it noted that one of the settlers wore a blue cap, similar to those worn by police. B’Tselem added that Palestinians had thrown stones in response.
YNET News adds a detail to this story that the Jerusalem Post didn’t include, that the settlers were apparently using rubber bullets. This makes sense considering one 24 year-old Palestinian was shot in the face, yet is in stable condition in the hospital recovering. Also, it’s worth noting that one of the settlers was apparently wearing an Israeli Police hat, so these settlers may not have been just ordinary people. They were likely part of a security force from the settlement:
YNET NEWS – A video distributed by B’Tselem shows a clash between Palestinians and settlers near Nablus on Saturday which ended with the use of rubber bullets as IDF soldiers stood by and did nothing. A Palestinian man, Fathi Asira, 24, was injured and taken to the Rafidia hospital. Doctors say his condition is stable. …
One of the settlers was wearing an Israel Police hat.
Here are the videos uploaded by the Palestinians group B’Tselem. I would note that neither of these videos actually show how the confrontation started.
This is supposedly the beginning of the event, however I found this video pretty much useless:
I expect the fact that Israelis were shooting rubber bullets will go largely unreported in the international media, to make it look like the Israelis were actually shooting real bullets at the poor innocent Palestinians who only had stones to throw.
Cue international outrage in 3..2..