Israeli settlers today attacked Palestinian shepherds while herding in the open pastures in Thaala area in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills, and forced them to leave the pastures.

Local activist Usama Makhamra told WAFA news agency that armed settlers from the illegal settlement of Karmiel attacked the shepherds and threatened to shoot them if they do not leave the area and never to come back to it.

At the same time, the settlers, who set up their own livestock farms in the area in order to take over the lands by creating new facts on the ground, let their sheep loose to roam the fields planted by the Palestinians with various kinds of agricultural products in a deliberate attempt to cause as much damage as possible to the crops.

Settlers, under army protection, also attacked shepherds in Boeib area of Masafer Yatta and forced them to leave it as the settlers’ sheep grazed in the same area.

The settlers and government policy aims to force the Palestinians living in Masafer Yatta to abandon their homes in favour of illegal settlement expansion.