http://www.maannews.net/
13/12/2011

Settlers vandalize Israeli military base in West Bank

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Over 50 settlers infiltrated an Israeli military base near Tulkarem early Tuesday, the army said.

Right wing settlers set fire to tires, vandalized vehicles and placed nails along the road at the Ephraim regional division headquarters.

Stones were also thrown at the base commander's vehicle.

No injuries were reported and the army and Israeli police managed to remove settlers from the military area, an army statement said.

The violence was condemned as "extremely severe" and the army will continue to enforce the law in "Judea and Samaria," the statement added.

Israeli Army Spokesman Yoav Mordechai told Army Radio there had been a string of "grave incidents" in the West Bank after rumors spread of an imminent eviction of settlement outposts.

In a separate incident, a group of hardline settlers crossed into a military zone close to the border with Jordan during the night to demonstrate against Jordanian protests over an Israeli decision to shut a footbridge at Jerusalem's holiest site.

In July, Israeli settlers vandalized an Israeli army base in the first reported case of 'price tag' attacks carried out against Israeli forces.

The perpetrators sprayed "graffiti against IDF commanders and against dismantling of structures in the Jewish community of Migron earlier this week," a statement said.

Settler attacks against Israeli military infrastructure in the West Bank are extremely rare and would represent a worrying development for Israel's army.

Settler violence against Palestinians as part of a 'price tag' policy is very common in the West Bank, however, with perpetrators rarely held accountable by the Israeli legal system.

Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.

All settlements are considered illegal under international law.

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