Rights group: Israeli settler violence tool to seize land

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli rights group says Israel has been using settler violence as a “major informal tool” to drive Palestinians from farming and pasture lands in the occupied West Bank. A report released Sunday by the group B’Tselem details the takeover of roughly 11 square miles of farm and pasture land in the territory by settlers over the past five years, an area around half the size of the island of Manhattan. Recent months have seen a steep increase in violence committed by Jewish settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians. On Friday, a group of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists, injuring two.