Militant Israeli settlers prompt security

YITZHAR, West Bank, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- An upturn in violence by Israeli settlers directed at West Bank Palestinians has prompted heightened security measures, sources say.

Israeli security has been beefed along West Bank settlement routes after an incident in which a Palestinian woman and her 7-year-old daughter were wounded by a hurled brick near the Yitzhar settlement, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Tuesday.

Haaretz cited an unnamed source saying authorities have told Israeli troops and police to keep a close eye on militant Jewish settlers who could be planning violence in the near Yitzhar, as well as the southern Mount Hebron settlements of Havat Gilad, Adei Ad and Maon.

"We have clarified and redefined our activities along these routes, in light of recent events," the source told Haaretz. "The brick thrown at the Palestinian family's car was just one in a string of events apparently stemming from the side of right-wing activists against the Palestinian population."