By Bassam Abu al-Rub

NABLUS, February 14, 2018 (WAFA) - For Howaida Ahmed Saleh and her children, the pre-dawn hour of Wednesday was the most horrifying experience in her life.

Saleh was still in shock in the morning, trying to regain her strength and life, and re-assure her young children that things will be okay.

People gathered at her Assira al-Shamaliya house, south of Nablus, to give moral support and to help the terrified family overcome its ordeal.

“I was asleep when I heard glass being broken everywhere in the house,” said Saleh. “I was terrified. I grabbed my four children and ran to another safer room in the house as we walked through broken glass and stone all over the floor.”

Around 30 settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar attacked Saleh’s home, throwing rocks at it from all directions. Lucky for her, the village residents also were also awaken by the attack and calls by her husband, Jawad Ahmad Shehadeh, for help and rushed to her house to help the family. The night attackers ran away.

“If people were five minutes late, there would have been a disaster and most likely we would have been hurt,” said Saleh, who says she and her family live under constant fear of attacks by settlers as she remembers what has happened to the Dawabshe family not far from her village who were burnt to death by the settlers.

Settlers usually attack and terrorize one section of the village closest to the settlement. This time, they came to another part of the village, where her house is located.

Residents believe the Israeli army, which has a watch tower near the village, colluded with the settlers and gave them cover for their attack.

"We noticed about a week ago that the soldiers stationed at the tower turned off the lights that lit the whole area,” said Hani, a resident. “We had a feeling that something was going to happen since the settlers always work in the dark."

This time the family escaped without any harm. No one knows what could happen the next time settlers attack the village.

M.K.