BETHLEHEM, September 7, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers attacked on Monday a professor and a student from Bethlehem University while on the road in the West Bank, according to a university press release published Wednesday.

It said that while traveling between the Palestinian villages of Al-Lubban and Turmos Aya, near the Israeli settlements of Ofarim and Bet Ariye along the Nablus-Ramallah road in the West Bank, Prof.. Adwan Adwan, a faculty member in the Arabic Department at Bethlehem University, was the victim of a violent attack by some 20 Israeli settlers who threw rocks in his face, injuring his head, shoulder, and stomach.

His car was blocked by a pile of burning tires when he quickly came under what he said felt like a well-orchestrated ambush. Adwan eventually was able to speed away from the scene and get himself to a hospital for treatment, said the release.

“I felt lucky to escape with my life,” he said.

On the same day and further along the same road, near the settlement of Shiloh in the Palestinian Territory, Yara Odeh, a Bethlehem University master’s degree student, was the victim of a violent attack by some Israeli settlers.

Odeh found herself stuck in what appeared to be a traffic jam caused by Israeli settlers pelting cars with rocks.

With the road blocked, she escaped from her car through the passenger door and ran toward nearby Israeli soldiers, calling for help. She reports being refused help and being told to return to her car.

“The settlers seemed not so much interested in damaging the car as they were in harming me,” she said of the incident.

“The Bethlehem University administration is extremely disturbed by these attacks on members of the academic community,” said the statement.

“We value the lives of our faculty and students,” says Michael Sansur, executive vice president at Bethlehem University. “Each and every day our faculty engages our students in promoting democracy, peace, and justice. We are fortunate to have a campus atmosphere that is known to be an oasis of peace. These violent and aggressive attacks on our students and faculty from Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories are horrifying and unjust.”

M.G./M.A.