Teens 'tied up and beat' man shot by settlers

Initial findings from an Israeli army inquiry into a Nablus settler attack in May have found that teenagers tied up and assaulted a man shot during clashes, Israeli media reported Sunday. Najeh al-Safadi, 22, was shot in the stomach by a guard from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, relatives said, after wheat fields and an olive grove belonging to the village of Orif were set on fire by settlers on May 26. The Israeli army said at the time of the attack that it would investigate the incident. On Saturday, a senior army official told Haaretz that a group of teenage settlers rushed towards al-Safadi after seeing he had been shot, tied his hands together, and began beating him, the officer added. Members of the Yitzhar settlement security team "operated against orders and regulations," the officer added. No arrests have been made. The Israeli military said it is also investigating a similar incident from early May in which a video distributed by a peace group showed a settler shooting and wounding a Palestinian during a confrontation with rock-throwing Palestinians, as soldiers stood by.