Israeli campaign raises funds for torched Palestinian town

By ISAAC SCHARF and AMI BENTOV
Associated Press

YOKNEAM, Israel (AP) — An Israeli-led crowdfunding campaign has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Palestinian residents of a West Bank town that was set ablaze by radical Jewish settlers this week. The organizer says Thursday some 12,000 Israelis have donated nearly 1.7 million shekels — about 465,000 dollars — since the campaign started. Scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank earlier this week in the town of Hawara, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. The organizer said the money will be sent as compensation to Palestinians whose property was damaged in the attack.