Settlers attack Palestine official's convoy in W. Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Jewish settlers on Thursday attacked a convoy carrying Palestinian Religious Affairs Minister Yousef Adais near the West Bank city of Salfit, according to local sources.

“Settlers attacked the convoy with stones; one car was damaged, although no injuries were reported,” one informed source said.

Earlier Thursday, the Palestinian government said that a convoy carrying Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah had been subject to a similar settler attack near Nablus last week.

“The PM’s convoy was attacked by a group of stone-throwing Jewish settlers near the Zatara checkpoint,” a government statement read.

UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, for his part, condemned the attack on Hamdallah’s convoy.

“It is a very worrying incident. It is absolutely unacceptable and the perpetrators must be brought to justice,” Mladenov said.

According to Israeli figures, anti-Palestinian attacks by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- rose by 60 percent last year compared to 2017.

More than 650,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) and more than 200 settler “outposts” (built without its approval) across the West Bank, according to Palestinian figures.