Israeli-Palestinian tension grows in West Bank

Tension between the Palestinians and the Israeli settlers mounted on Saturday in south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said.

Abdul Azim Wadi, mayor of the town of Qasrah, south of Nablus, told Xinhua that clashes between residents and settlers broke out when dozens of settlers attacked the farmers while working at their lands.

"The farmers and the residents of the village clashed with the Israeli settlers," the mayor said, adding that "when tension between the two sides mounted, an Israeli army force was called to the scene and dispersed the residents by force."

Medical sources and eyewitnesses said the Israeli army force came to protect the settlers, adding that the soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets, adding that two residents were injured.

Wadi affirmed that the Israeli settlers' assaults on the Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank increased in the past few months, referring to Friday's attack of setting fire to a house and killing a Palestinian baby boy.

On Friday, settlers set fire to a house in the town of Duma, just three kilometers far from Qasrah town near Nablus. An 18-month-old baby boy was burned to death, where his parents and his four-year-old brother were seriously injured.

"The non-stopped settlers' attacks on day and night are frightening the populations of the villages and towns around Nablus," said Wadi, calling on the world to intervene "to stop these acts."

There has been no immediate Israeli army comment on Saturday's incidents in Qasrah, where Wadi said the Palestinians are sticking to their lands, towns and villages and will never leave it.

He accused the current Israeli government of providing protection to the settlers and giving them a free hand to carry out crimes against the Palestinians.