Colonists shoot Palestinian as Israeli troops stand by

Occupied Jerusalem:  An Israeli human rights group has released a video suggesting Israeli soldiers stood by while Jewish colonists opened fire on Palestinians in the West Bank, wounding one.

The B'tselem group says colonists from Yitzhar descended over the weekend on the nearby village of Asira Al Qibliya, where they threw rocks at Palestinian homes. Village youths confronted the colonists, and rocks started flying on both sides, B'tselem said. Colonists later opened fire, shooting a 24-year-old Palestinian man, who was hospitalised in stable condition, the group said.

Three soldiers appear in the footage, which was obtained by the Associated Press yesterday. They apparently did not stop the colonists from throwing rocks or shooting at the Palestinians and one soldier is seen running away from the unrest.

The footage "raises grave suspicions" the soldiers did not act to prevent colonists from firing, B'tselem said.

The Israeli military said the incident was being investigated but "it appears that the video in question does not reflect the incident in its entirety".

A spokesman for the colony said the incident was touched off by Palestinians who set fire for the third week in a row to fields near Yitzhar. Fires were burning in the footage.

The spokesman, Avraham Binyamin, said the colonists' security squad and firefighting team were attacked by dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks.

"When a person's life is threatened, it's his right to defend himself," he said.

Command

He said the soldier who was in command didn't take charge of the situation and quell the unrest, and fled after being struck by a rock.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces arrested 10 members of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp yesterday, a local leader of the radical movement said. Gassan Sa'adi, head of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp, located in the occupied West Bank, said he did not know why they had been detained.

Palestinian security officials confirmed the arrests, but refused to provide further details.

Islamic Jihad believes in armed struggle against Israel and enjoys more freedom in Hamas-run Gaza Strip than in the West Bank, which is run by the Western-backed Palestinian National Authority.

Formed in 1980, the group was the first Palestinian organisation to take up arms against Israel.