Dozens of settlers set fire to agricultural land in Nablus on Wednesday and attacked students at a local school, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an Palestinian news agency that settlers from Shilo set fire to agricultural land in an area known as Mount Jalud.

Settlers cut down over 120 olive trees on private Palestinian land in Nablus on last year, a Palestinian Authority official said (Photo: WAFA)

Dozens of settlers then raided a school in the nearby village of Qaryut and vandalized five cars. The group also set fire to land in the village, destroying dozens of olive trees. Palestinian Authority fire-trucks arrived at the scene and extinguished the blaze. Settlers tried to enter the village but were confronted by local residents, Daghlas added. The Nablus region of the occupied West Bank experiences a particularly high rate of settler attacks, with settlements built illegally next to Palestinian communities. Settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are systematic and rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities. All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

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