An Israeli court on Thursday charged two Jewish settlers with committing a "terrorist act" by attacking Palestinians in a village in the northern occupied West Bank this month, officials confirmed.

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Edited by | Tony Wild 

Middle east section

31 March 2023

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   The court issued the indictment, in a rare step taken against two settlers, accusing them of committing a "serious terrorist act" and causing damage to property with "racist motives".

A group of settlers attacked a Palestinian family in their car in the town of Hawara, about a week after two Israeli settlers were killed by a Palestinian.

Since the beginning of this year, the has witnessed an escalation of violence, during which 88 Palestinians, including members of armed factions and civilians, including a number of minors, were killed.

On the Israeli side, 13 Israelis were killed, including 12 civilians - including three minors - and a policeman, in addition to a Ukrainian woman, according to a toll compiled by AFP based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

The shooting incidents carried out by Palestinians against settlers in the occupied West Bank caused an escalation of violence by groups of settlers who set fire to homes and cars in the town of Hawara, in the northern occupied West Bank, near the city of Nablus.

The shootings prompted Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to call for the "erasing" of the town, before retracting his remarks.

According to the indictment filed in the Israeli Central Court, the two young settlers were among a group of between 8 and 10 people who drove two vehicles toward a supermarket in the town.

The list stated that the settlers were armed with an axe, hammer, stones, and pepper spray.

She added that local shoppers took cover inside the supermarket and locked its doors.

However, the settlers attacked a Palestinian couple who stayed with their daughter in their vehicle, as they threw stones at the vehicle and broke its windows using an ax. They also attacked the father.

The father sustained injuries to his shoulder and arm. The rest also sprayed the vehicle with pepper spray, while the second accused vandalized two cars that were parked nearby.

The attack took place on March 6, during the Purim holiday, or Purim.

In the end, the family succeeded in leaving the place in conjunction with the settlers throwing stones at the vehicle, in a move that caused the father's head injuries.

The indictment said the defendants "injured or caused grave harm" whose motives were "ideological or nationalist to create fear or panic in the population".

 

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