Israeli military cracks down on West Bank village as settlers march in

TAL, West Bank, July 31 - Israeli forces shot and wounded at least one Palestinian, arrested at least three, and closed entrances to the village of Tal in the occupied West Bank on Friday as more than 100 Israeli settlers marched towards the village, residents said.

A settler attack last weekend had left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead, an incident that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government characterised as terrorism - although video later emerged showing armed settlers shoving Palestinians. The Palestinian villagers say they were defending themselves against settler attacks that aim to drive them off the land, the latest in a three-year surge of such violence in the West Bank.

Since last Friday, the Israeli military has carried out near-daily raids and arrests in Tal, which is near Nablus in the northern West Bank - where most countries and U.N. bodies consider Israeli settlements illegal, a position that Israel rejects.

SETTLERS SEEN STEALING AS ISRAELI SOLDIERS LOOK ON

Munther Shtayya, vice-president of the local council, said at least 24 people from Tal were still in Israeli custody.

"All those arrested had no involvement in what happened last week. It was simply an expression of the resentment felt by the Israelis, and part of it was a form of punishment," said Shtayya.

Abdulrahman Zaidan, 49, who lives on the edge of Tal, near the settlements, said: "The army, if people approach or try to resist, fires tear gas and live ammunition at them to intimidate them and force them away from their homes so they cannot protect their houses and land."

After the incident, several settler-run social media channels had called for "revenge".

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz had vowed to expand military operations in the West Bank in the wake of the attack.

As the settlers marched, a Reuters correspondent saw some of them stealing goods from at least one Palestinian building. Israeli soldiers followed behind, not intervening.

Reuters later visited a cemetery with broken gravestones that residents said had been vandalised by the settlers while soldiers were present.

ISRAELI SOLDIERS ASSIST SETTLER MARCH

The soldiers also blocked roads to allow settlers to pass unimpeded, and fired smoke bombs at cars approaching the march.

"What harm did my son do to them?" said Mustafa Ali Abu Bakr, 76, standing next to the broken headstones of his two sons and wife.

"They just wanted to break the spirit of his father, his family, and his community."

The military said it was in the area to disperse the settlers and evacuate them from the area. It said it had received reports of Israelis vandalising a cemetery but did not provide further details.

"Instead of stopping them, the army was helping them," said Abu Bakr.

Palestinians often say that the settlers operate with impunity and their violence is enabled by either the inaction or cooperation of the Israeli military.

The Israeli military denies such allegations.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, as the core of a future independent state. Netanyahu's government, which opposes Palestinian statehood, has expanded settlement there at a rapid rate.

Israel has argued that the West Bank is not occupied in legal terms because the land is disputed. REUTERS