JERICHO, Saturday, June 18, 2022 (WAFA) – A Palestinian elderly was bodily hurt today and six other Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli army after the former were attacked by a group of Israeli settlers in Arab Mlehat area, west of the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.

Hasan Mlehat, a local Palestinian activist, told WAFA that a group of Israeli settlers physically attacked and beat up Palestinian shepherds while grazing their sheep in the area, injuring 64-year-old Mohammad Suleiman Mlehat and stealing a tractor for a Palestinian resident.

He said an Israeli occupation army force arrived at the scene and arrested six Palestinian residents.

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

Settler violence includes arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

There are over 600,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

M.N