On 14 February 2021, at around 4:30 P.M., four settlers stoned a Palestinian minibus with 15 passengers onboard near the ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah water tower. The minibus driver had taken a wrong turn onto the dirt road leading to the spot, as the main road was blocked due to roadworks. The settlement of Yitzhar was built about 700 meters away from the water tower.
As the driver tried to turn the minibus around, the settlers smashed one of its windows and damaged the body. The driver stopped the minibus and got out along with several passengers. The settlers then fled toward Yitzhar.
In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 7 March 2021, the minibus driver, Naser ‘As’us, 51, a married father of six from the village of Burin, spoke about the attack on his minibus:
I own the Bisan transport company together with a resident of the village of ‘Urif. I also work for the company as a minibus driver on the ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah – ‘Urif – Nablus line.
On Sunday, 14 February 2021, at around 4:30 P.M., I was driving from Nablus to ‘Urif and went through ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah to drop off passengers. I let them off and was planning to continue to ‘Urif on the road I take every day, but I discovered it was closed for roadworks. I took a side road and at some point, realized I had taken a wrong turn. There was no way to turn around and go back, so I kept driving until I got close to the ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah water tower on the south side of the village, where I started turning around to head back.
Suddenly, four settlers came out of the generator room near the tower and started throwing stones at the minibus. The sound of the glass shattering was like an explosion. The passengers shouted and screamed. There were 15 passengers on the bus, mostly women and children, and only five men. I stopped the minibus and the passengers and I got out and started running away. Then the settlers ran away towards the settlement.
We got back in the minibus and I drove on. When we were far enough from the area, I stopped and checked the minibus. Thank God, the damage wasn’t serious – one window was broken and a few stones hit the body, but thank God, none of the passengers were hurt because the seat next to the broken window had been empty. I drove the passengers home to ‘Urif and returned to my village, Burin. Tomorrow I’ll have to fix the window, because you can’t leave an open window in this cold weather.