Israeli Settlers Poison Palestinian Water Tank

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Reports of Israeli settlers allegedly attempted to poison a water tank belonging to a Palestinian family from Hebron are being investigated.

Maannews.com reports:

Imad Abu Shamsiyeh told Ma’an that last week he went to his home in Tel al-Rumeida near the illegal settlements of Beit Yishai and Beit Hadassah where he found three settlers waiting.

“One of them was wearing dark clothes and covering his face while the others stood guarding him,” he said. “When the three settlers saw me they fled the scene.”

He continued: “I headed to the water tanks and when I looked inside the tanks I saw a white substance in the water and immediately informed Israeli police and occupation forces of the incident.

“Several soldiers went up to my roof and an Israeli officer told me that the substance was poisonous upon seeing it.”

He added: “The police arrived later and I filed a complaint against the settlers. I asked them to remove the military outpost above my house, provide protection to my family, and put an iron gate at the entrance of my home to protect me from settler attacks.”

Abu Shamsiyeh explained that he informed the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Hebron municipality, but they could not test a sample of the water.

Abu Shamsiyeh and his family say they have been on the receiving end of several attacks from both Israeli soldiers and settlers, most recently when settlers damaged cameras he had set up to document attacks.

Israeli settlers routinely carry out acts of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, but are rarely held accountable and almost never tried in court, according to Israeli human rights organization B’tselem.

There were at least 329 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2014, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.