Palestinian Cyclists Attacked by Jewish Settlers

West Bank, MINA – A group of Palestinian cyclists were attacked by Israelis in the West Bank as they crossed areas filled with Jewish settlements.

Amer Kurdi along with a brother and three of his friends used the Komoot guide application to map a bicycle path from northern Palestine, the village of Birzeit. This quoted from Republika on Thursday.

After traveling for more than an hour, the Kurdi and their entourage were directed by the Komoot application to the east to the barbatu road near the Israeli settlement of Shilo.

Kurdi said a group of Hebrew-speaking men approached him and asked where they were from.

Kurdi answered that they are from the city of Ramallah in Palestine. After that, a group of Israeli men threw stones at the Kurdi and their entourage.

Kurdi estimate that there are five or six Israeli men who throw stones at him. A group of men covered their faces with T-shirts.

“The others managed to escape, but I tripped and fell. When I woke up, a (Jewish) settler was behind me and beat me with a metal stick,” said the Kurdis’s brother, Samer.

Kurdi immediately reported the incident to Israeli police. Samer the bruises and bleeding on his arms and legs. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfed said it was investigating the beating case.

Kurdi complained that the Komoot navigation application had failed to understand the complexity of the West Bank.

Komoot regretted the beating incident. Komoot stated that the application was not specifically optimized for planning routes through areas that had political conflicts. Kurdi said the beating incident would not stop him from cycling.

“I will use a camera, I will be more careful when using the application. We will not stop. We will defend our right to ride bikes,” Kurdi said.

Israel is building a number of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of these Jewish settlements cannot be entered by Palestinians. Access to the settlement is equipped with checkpoints and military bases to maintain security. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)