Palestinian land burns in Israeli fire

As part of an Israeli scheme to scare away the Palestinians from their properties, a number of arsonist settlers have set alight more Palestinian farms in the West Bank. The land belonged to farmers from the Saffa village in the vicinity of al-Khalil (Hebron). The damaged 37 acres contained olive trees and grape vines. The settlers came from the nearby Beit Ein settlement, farmers said. Mohamed Awwad, who is with the Palestinian Solidarity campaign, told reporters that the Israeli military prevented fire fighters from reaching the site. He added that the military allowed the Israeli fire brigades to extinguish the fire only when it was about to spread to the settlements. In another development, Israeli soldiers kidnapped three Palestinians at pre-dawn operations in the occupied West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Qalqilyah. The Israeli army regularly takes Palestinians during overnight operations in West Bank towns. The detentions are in flagrant violation of a security agreement with the Palestinian National Authority. Tel Aviv claims that those 'arrested' in the raids are 'wanted activists' taken for interrogation.