NABLUS, October 18, 2015 (WAFA) – Jewish settlers Sunday attempted to kidnap two Palestinians from the village of Burin, to the south of Nablus, while other groups of settlers raided Joseph’s Tomb, an archeological site in Nablus, according to local sources.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in northern West Bank, said that locals Yousif and Arafat Najjar were driving their car near the entrance of the village, when they were pursued by a settler’s vehicle, in an apparent attempt to kidnap them.

Daghlas warned about possible kidnapping of Palestinians by Israeli settlers, who are increasingly stepping up their violence and attacks against Palestinians.

At predawn Sunday, Jewish settlers forced their way into Nablus’ Joseph’s Tomb, an archeological site in the city.

Earlier Sunday,, Israeli settlers, under Israeli army protection,  attacked Palestinians’ homes with stones in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Hasin, east of Hebron.

In the past few weeks, mounting tension has been witnessed across the West Bank and Jerusalem, with Israel’s repeated assault on al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, particularly its growing attempts to temporally divide the site between Muslims and Jews.

The situation has been significantly deteriorating since settlers’ deadly arson attack on the Dawabsheh’s family home in Nablus’ Duma village on July 31, 2015. The attack  left 4-year-old Ahmad orphaned, after his toddler brother, Ali, father, Sa’ed and mother, Reham, lost their lives.

In the past three weeks alone, more than 40 Palestinian youths were killed by the Israeli army and police in separate incidents across the occupied territories.

M.N./T.R.