Jerusalem — Israeli settlers set fire to cars in the latest arson in the occupied West Bank as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting on settler violence.
According to witnesses and WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, settlers torched a vehicle scrapyard in the town of Huwara in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military said its soldiers were dispatched to Huwara after receiving reports of Israeli civilians throwing rocks toward Palestinian vehicles, setting fire and damaging property.
Footage obtained by CNN shows numerous cars on fire as firefighters try to extinguish the blaze. Thick, black smoke pours into the night sky from the fire that appears to spread over a sizable area.
Mohammed Dalal, who owns the scrapyard, says more than a dozen settlers descended on the site, smashing cars and starting the fire. He says no one was in the scrapyard at the time, but he estimated that 150 cars were torched or damaged.
“I have children in university, I have grandchildren, I have a family; we all depend on this scrapyard,” Dalal told CNN. “Like many Palestinians, I have olive trees, but I haven’t been able to harvest my olives and so this is our only source of income. All I can do is ask God to compensate us.”
