WEST BANK - "A settler just threw this bottle on my head and almost killed me," a Palestinian resident, holding a glass bottle in his hand, told al-Araby’s reporter who rushed to the location minutes before the US delegation.
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in Hawara in the occupied West Bank once again on Tuesday, this time during a visit by a US delegation headed by the US envoy to the Middle East Hady Amr.
ِAmr visited Hawara two days after a massive attack by Israeli settlers on the town and the surrounding Palestinian villages in the south of Nablus, in which settlers torched 30 houses and dozens of cars, killed one Palestinian and wounded over a hundred others.
The US delegation interviewed Palestinian residents who explained the settlers' attack on Sunday and inspected the damaged houses and property.
Israeli forces had sealed off Hawara's entrances following the settlers' attack on Sunday and blocked the town's streets. Before the US delegation's visit on Tuesday, Israeli forces eased movement restrictions in the town.
During the visit, which was being broadcasted live by al-Araby tv, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians on Hawara's main road, a few hundred metres away from where Amr was listening to a Palestinian's account of events in front of his burned home.
"A settler just threw this bottle on my head and almost killed me," a Palestinian resident, holding a glass bottle in his hand, told Al-Araby's reporter, who rushed to the location minutes before the US delegation.
Following the visit, Amr condemned what he described as the "unacceptable, widescale, indiscriminate violence by settlers."
"It is imperative Israel and the Palestinians work together to de-escalate tensions and restore calm. Israelis and Palestinians deserve equally to live in safety and security," he stressed.
For his part, the vice president of the Palestinian-Authority's ruling party Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, who was accompanying Amr during the visit, said, "The true loss in Hawara is the terror lived by residents, especially women and children."
Aloul also called for the international community to "protect Palestinians."
On Tuesday, Israeli settlers continued attacks on Palestinians, attacking an ambulance near Jenin that was transporting a 12-year-old girl and her mother, who was injured.
On Monday, settlers attacked 13 families in the northern Jordan valley, destroying solar panels and water tanks.
