An IDF soldier was accidentally hit by a rock Wednesday during an attack by a group of young Jews in the Southern Hevron Hills on Arabs who were picking olives in a grove at the Jewish community of Otniel.
The attackers, which numbered fewer than a dozen males who appeared to be in their upper teens, wore black face masks and carried clubs. The Arabs have claimed the land is theirs, and the olive picking was coordinated with the army.
A security officer in Otniel, located between the Judean city of Hevron and the Negev city of Be'er Sheva, said the soldier was caught in the middle of the fracas, which he said lasted no longer than three minutes.
One of the attackers also was wounded after he tried to grab one of the soldiers' guns. Most of the youth were not residents of Otniel.
On Saturday three left-wing activists were arrested for incitement after violating an order prohibiting olive picking near Jewish communities during the holiday season.
Foreign and Israeli left-wing activists had accompanied Arabs on the Sabbath to an olive grove near the Hevron Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, which had been declared a closed military zone.