Settlers from evacuated outpost enter village

Fierce clashes erupted between villagers from Qusra, located south Nablus, and armed settlers entering the residential area of the village.

Witnesses said tens of settlers entered the area, setting fire to civilian cars, throwing stones and opening fire on homes.

Three were injured by the settlers, locals said, while Israeli news site Ynet said two 14-year-old children of settlers and a Palestinian were lightly hurt during the clashes.

Qusra is located near an illegal settlement outpost that was evacuated by the Israeli military the day before.

Settlers have in the past pushed a "price tag" policy, where anger toward the Israeli military for evacuating settlements is directed toward Palestinians living in nearby towns and villages.

Israeli news site Ynet said villagers clashed with Israeli security forces near a settlement identified as Adi Ad.

The Israeli news report said that Palestinians threw stones at settlers near an outpost, causing some injury. The report said settler then retaliated by throwing rocks at Palestinians. Security forces used crowd dispersal methods to stop the clashes, the report concluded.

The day before, two busloads of Israeli soldiers were seen deployed in the village late Tuesday ahead of the demolition which removed a cement structure, agriculture buildings, and tents in the outpost, which locals said was called Yesh Dam.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlements in the northern West Bank, said the day before that “This outpost was the launch point of many attacks against Palestinian property in Nablus, the latest of which was the uprooting of trees in Qusra," and said he was glad the site had been evacuated.

Settlements in lands occupied by Israel in 1967 are illegal under international law, and settlement outposts, areas taken in addition to confiscated settlement lands, are considered illegal under Israeli law.

The construction of settlement outposts is often an attempt by settlers seeking to establish permanent control over the West Bank to create "facts on the ground" in the hopes that the outposts will eventually become part of the official settlement borders, thus expanding the area of settler control.