Jewish settler attack on film

June 12, 2008 3:27 pm henrymunsonjr Settlers, Israeli-Palestinian conflict

BBC, ‘Jewish settler attack’ on film, Thursday, 12 June 2008

‘Jewish settler attack’ on film
By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem

Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show Jewish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank.

An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.

The rights group, B’Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.

A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.

So far, no-one has been arrested.

For the past year, B’Tselem has handed out video cameras to Palestinians as part of its “Shooting Back” project.

The BBC has been given exclusive access to the footage of this particular attack, which happened earlier this week. The date and time on the camera footage shows that it is Sunday afternoon.Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman.

Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the Jewish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up.

As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help.

Mrs Nawaja spent three days in hospital after the attack.

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