20 Palestinians Arrested In Connection With Attack On Hiking Jewish Children
A masked Palestinian boy stands in front of flames during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the village of Qusra in the West Bank on December 4, 2017. Image by ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Twenty Palestinians from the West Bank village of Qusra were arrested for suspected involvement in an attack on Jewish children hiking in the West Bank.
The arrests came overnight Wednesday, according to Israeli media reports. During the raid, Israeli security forces found some of the equipment and personal possessions taken from the hikers during the attack. Two of those arrested were minors.
On November 30, at least 30 Palestinian men surrounded the children and their parent escorts, who were on a hike in honor of one of the boy’s bar mitzvah, and started throwing rocks. An Israeli father escorting the hike, one of two carrying a gun, fired into the crowd to break it up, killing a Palestinian farmer.
The boys were ushered into a cave to keep them safe until Israeli security forces arrived, but they were harassed by the rioting Palestinians and some of their equipment was stolen.
On Monday, a group of right-wing Jewish activists visited the area saying they wanted to show a Jewish presence, leading to clashes with local Palestinians.
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