An-Najah News - Extremist Israeli settlers last night attacked Palestinian shepherds in the northern Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, said Mutaz Bsharat, an official in charge of monitoring Israeli settlements in the area.

He said the settlers from the so-called Hilltop Youth group assaulted the shepherds while holding a night vigil in the area and forced them to leave.

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians are commonplace, but assaults on defenseless Palestinian communities across the West Bank, including on farmers and herders, have been frequent over the past few weeks. Most of these attacks occurred in the presence of the Israeli occupation army, which did nothing to stop the attacks and rather provided protection for attcking settlers.