SALFIT, Monday, October 19, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers today hampered media coverage by WAFA staff of the threat to seize a plot of land in Deir Istiya village, north of the northern West Bank city of Salfit.

WAFA reporter said that one of the guards of the colonial settlement of Yakir, located north of the town, attacked him and his colleagues as they were attempting to report on settlers’ encroachment on a plot of land, upon which settlers have built a swimming pool.

WAFA teams headed to the land with Amer Abu Hijleh, owner of the plot the settlers have encroached upon.

However, the arm-toting guard of the Israeli settlement summoned settlers and uniformed soldiers to the scene in an effort to prevent the reporting byWAFA team and expelled them from the land.

Israeli forces held Abu Hijleh and the team for an hour and warned them against accessing the land once again purportedly for being classified as a closed military zone.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

K.F./M.K.