A group of Palestinian Arab men attacked Jewish farmers on Friday morning near the town of Netzer in Gush Etzion. The attack, reported by Women for Israel's Future (formerly Women in Green) activists, was one in a series of similar incidents in the area.

Six Arab men approached the farmers as they went about their work, and demanded that they leave, claiming that the land they were cultivating belongs to Arabs. When the farmers refused a fight broke out during which one of the PA men attacked a Jew with a hoe, causing him injuries.

Police later arrested one of the PA attackers.

Jewish activists noted that the land in question is definitely state owned, and is not Arab property. The issue has been investigated in the past due to similar Arab claims, and the land was found to be Jewish owned, they said.

Clashes first broke out half a year ago, when local Jews began agricultural activity in an open area near Netzer. Then, on Friday, PA Arabs began to disrupt the farmers' work arguing that the land was theirs.

Since then, PA Arabs have repeatedly undermined the fledgling agricultural enterprise, and have destroyed many olive saplings.

“If it weren't for our activists on the ground, there would have been no way to plant in those fields,” said Nadia Matar of Women for Israel's Future. “The Arabs would have taken control of the land, and it would have been lost to the people of Israel. Our activists' determined stance forced the Civil Administration to intervene, to look at the maps and to admit that the lands in question do not belong to Arabs.”