Arson attacks reported on Israeli and Palestinian property in West Bank
Army Radio reported a sequence of arson attacks involving Palestinians and Jewish settlers on Monday, while the military separately reported firing at Palestinians it said were preparing to throw stones.
By Hassan Ellis ·
Palestinians and Jewish settlers set fire to vehicles and other property in the West Bank on Monday, November 9, in incidents described as retaliatory attacks, according to an Army Radio report carried via Telegram. The report detailed fires near Mitzpe Shalem and the Palestinian village of Beita.
The sequence began when Palestinian rioters burned an Israeli vehicle near Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, a Jewish settlement overlooking the Dead Sea, Army Radio reported. Following that incident, the Israel Defense Forces imposed a curfew in Azzun, a Palestinian village in the West Bank's Kalkilya Governorate.
Jewish rioters subsequently entered an area near Beita, a village close to Nablus, and burned construction equipment and vehicles in a commercial area, according to the same report. Army Radio described those fires as retaliation for the earlier attack on the Israeli vehicle near Mitzpe Shalem.
Multiple locations where property had been set alight were documented in the area, the report said. As of the November 10 article, no arrests had been reported in connection with the attacks. The IDF had also not issued a statement addressing the arson incidents.
Monday's fires followed other reported arson attacks earlier in November. Last week, Arab residents of Beit Ummar reportedly burned an Israeli vehicle near the settler farm Gafen Ami. That incident was also described as part of a sequence involving attacks on vehicles belonging to Israelis and Palestinians.
According to Army Radio, the fire near Gafen Ami was allegedly a response to an earlier incursion into Beit Ummar by Jewish rioters. During that incursion, the rioters had set Palestinian-owned vehicles on fire, the report said, linking the two incidents through the alleged retaliatory motive.
Separately, the IDF said it carried out an operation overnight on Monday near Burqa, another Palestinian village in the West Bank. In a statement about that operation, the military said its objective was to prevent stone-throwing and terror incidents in the area.
The military said soldiers identified several Palestinians preparing to throw stones toward a highway used by Israelis. Previous stone-throwing attacks had been recorded on that road, according to the statement. The soldiers opened fire in response, an action the IDF described as neutralizing the threat.
