RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -Masked Israeli settlers hurled stones and torched dairy trucks, farmland and Bedouin structures, injuring four people on Tuesday in the latest in a surge of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military and a Palestinian official said.
The army said soldiers rushed to Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf after dozens of masked Israeli civilians attacked Palestinians and set fire to property. It said four Palestinians were treated for injuries. Security forces dispersed the confrontation.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated three people who had been beaten with sticks and stones. Israeli police said four Israeli suspects were arrested and held for questioning.
On Friday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said settlers staged at least 264 attacks on Palestinians in October — the highest monthly tally since the U.N. began tracking incidents in 2006.
Palestinian Minister Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said settlers set fire to the four trucks belonging to the Junaidi dairy, agricultural areas and tin rooms and tents of Bedouin families, while hurling stones at residents.
Later, near the Baron Industrial Zone, where some of the masked settlers had regrouped, they attacked soldiers and damaged a military vehicle, the army said.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. Successive Israeli governments have expanded settlements rapidly, fragmenting the land.
The United Nations, Palestinians and most countries regard settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing biblical ties to the land and security concerns. Around half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Howard Goller; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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