IDF: Palestinians apparently didn't cause Israelis' crash in West Bank

A West Bank car crash in which three Israelis were injured late Monday was apparently not caused by stone-throwing Palestinians, as the Israelis claimed earlier, Israeli security forces said Tuesday.

The Israelis said earlier Tuesday that Palestinians in the West Bank village of Kefel Hares had pelted the car with stones, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

The incident took place when the Israelis, who were all Breslav Hasidim, were returning from praying at the burial place of Joshua Bin Nun, the biblical conqueror of Canaan.

One of the Israelis was moderately to seriously wounded, the other two lightly so. They were evacuated for treatment to Petah Tikva's Beilinson Hospital.

The group, which included a fourth Israeli who was unscathed in the incident, was from the ultra-Orthodox town of Elad.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces stressed that the Israelis entered the Palestinian area without a permit and without prior coordination, and put themselves at great personal risk. Israelis are barred from entering the Palestinian-controlled zone without an army escort.