Video footage filmed by an Israeli human rights group Friday shows Israeli soldiers standing by for two hours before intervening to stop a clash between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank. A spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, Sarit Michaeli, said settlers attacked the Palestinians with rocks as they worked in a field. Tension in the West Bank increased last week when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a 10-month freeze on building new homes in Jewish settlements there in an attempt to restart peace talks with the Palestinians. Settlers vowed to defy the order and have since managed to prevent some inspectors from reaching construction sites to enforce the ban. Netanyahu's office announced Friday that a new task force overseen by Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be formed to monitor the settlement freeze. B'Tselem's footage was filmed by Salma Dibie, a Palestinian who works for the rights group and lives at the scene of Friday's violence in the village of Asira, located near the Yitzhar settlement in the northern West Bank. She said no one was hurt. Dibie said the soldiers did not intervene to push the settlers back until more troops arrived after two hours. An Israeli military spokesman said B'Tselem did not provide it with a copy of the footage. He said officials would study the film as soon as they receive it and investigate the claims. The Palestinians say Netanyahu's settlement freeze falls short because it does not include occupied east Jerusalem or 3,000 homes already under construction in the West Bank.
