5 Palestinians Arrested In Connection With Deadly Friday Night Clash With Israeli Shepherds

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Three days after a deadly clash between Palestinian rioters and Israeli shepherds left one Palestinian dead and an Israeli badly injured, Israeli police arrested five Palestinians including two minors on suspicion of involvement in the altercation, which took place Friday evening near the village of Burqa east of Ramallah. The Palestinians are suspected of aggravated assault and other crime and police say additional arrests are expected, according to a report by Ynet.

Two Israelis, including Yechiel Indor, the Israeli who was injured by a stone hitting his head and is still hospitalized, were arrested immediately after the incident on suspicion of being involved in the death of the 19-year-old Palestinian youth, Qusai Mata’an. The other Israeli being held is Elisha Yered, former parliamentary aide of MK Limor Son Har-Melech.

One of Palestinians involved in incident carries a crowbar, proving his intentions

According to an IDF probe, Indor, a shepherd, arrived with his herd from the outpost of Oz Zion to an open area adjacent to Burqa around 7:00 PM on Friday, where a confrontation developed with a group of Palestinians, during which Indor is suspected of shooting and killing Mata’an. Yered and other settlers involved say that Indor acted in self-defense after he was struck in the head by a stone and “used his personal weapon in his final strength.”

According to them, “dozens of rioters armed with rods, firecrackers and stones attacked the settlers, who called security forces and civilian forces for assistance. The rioters fired firecrackers directly at the settlers and threw stones from point-blank range. One of the settlers was struck in the head by a stone at point-blank range and was seriously injured. With his last strength, he managed to defend himself by using his personal weapon, which he holds a license for.”

The first IDF and police force arrived at the scene about two hours later after settlers failed to report the incident. According to the IDF, the incident on Friday took place on private Palestinian land a few hundred feet from the first line of houses in the Palestinian town, and about a mile as the crow flies from the houses in the outpost.

Indor received backing from several coalitionMKs, as well as from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who argued Sunday that Indor should be granted a citation for his actions. “My policy is clear. Anyone who defends themselves from stone-throwing should receive a citation”, wrote Ben-Gvir on Twitter.

Other senior officials were more critical of the incident, with Shin Bet head Ronen Bar    warning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israeli Jewish terror “fans the flames” of Palestinian terror