Jewish settlers vandalize villagers' crops in West Bank

Jewish settlers have set ablaze hundreds of olive trees and wheat crops on Saturday in a West Bank village, witnesses said.

Witnesses told Xinhua that scores of settlers from Yetshar settlement sat fire to large crop fields in Far'ta village, near Nablus City, while Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinian fire fighting workers from reaching the area.

Jewish settlers frequently attack the village and vandalize the crops and property of villagers, witnesses added.

Israeli settlement activity is a thorny issue in the Israeli- Palestinian peace talks as Palestinians still are stuck to their demands of freezing settlement construction, while Israel insists that settlements are indispensable.

In Gaza, meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated near the Gaza-Israel border fence to protest against the Israeli- imposed buffer zone that extends along the borderline.

Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers fire at the march to disperse protestors who got very close to the barbed fence separating Gaza and Israel.

Palestinians, mainly farmers whose lands are eaten by the no man's zone, wage the sit-in on weekly basis, to defy the Israeli decision that prevents them from reaching their farms.

Earlier Saturday, an armed group fired a home-made rocket from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip against Israel, no injuries were reported, according to Israeli army statements.

The projectile landed in an uninhabited open area, near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, the Israeli side reported.

Source:Xinhua