Hundreds of protesters gathered in Bil‘in on Friday to mark 11 years of weekly demonstrations against the Israeli occupation and the separation wall.
Two Palestinians were killed on Sunday evening while exchanging fire with Israeli soldiers and police officers near the light-rail station in the Bab al-‘Amoud area in occupied Jerusalem. Their deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed on Sunday to five. Kilzar al-Uweiwi, 18, was killed by Israeli soldiers in Hebron on Saturday after stabbing an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian bystander near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Israeli forces stormed the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin’s Qabatiya village, the home of three Palestinian youths who were shot dead Wednesday after killing one 19-year-old Israeli police officer and seriously injuring another, a PLO spokesman told Ma‘an. Ali Zakarneh said that during the raid, Israeli forces shot and injured four youths with live bullets, one of whom is in critical condition after being shot in the head.
“Opposition leader” Isaac Herzog posts on Facebook setting out his vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “Why [doesn’t the Netanyahu government] implement an effective separation? Why don’t they erect a wall? What’s the point of a fence if one can hop over or crawl under it? We don’t need a livestock fence. We need real separation that will truly block the terrorists. We can erect a real fence, topped with electrified barbed wire, one that can’t be traversed. Any weaker solution is wantonness that this government is responsible for. We need a fence that’ll deter murderers and defend civilians. We can do that and defend our civilians from terrorism and murder. That’s part of my separation plan.”
On Tuesday, a 24-year old Israeli woman died of wounds sustained Monday morning when she was stabbed at Horon settlement. The attack was carried out by Ibrahim Osama Yousif Allan, 23 from the village of Beit ‘Ur at-Tahta west of Ramallah and Hussein Muhammad Abu Ghush, 17, from the Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem. In response, Israeli military forces have sealed all entrances and exits to Beit Ur at-Tahta which prevents movement for the around 6,000 Palestinian residents of the village.
IMEMC reports: The Israeli Supreme Court refused to reconsider a decision to demolish the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, and ordered to evict all its residents, Adalah center reported on Sunday. Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, requested that the court reconsider its decision to approve Israel’s plane to evict the village’s 1,000 Palestinian Bedouin residents, in order to build Jewish town of Hiran, and expand the Yatir Forest over its ruins.
Israeli forces continue to use excessive force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports that nine Palestinian civilians, including two children, were killed, and one armed resistance fighter was killed by Israeli troops in the past week. During the same time, 21 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children, were wounded in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli forces conducted 72 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and a limited one in the southern Gaza Strip. 64 Palestinian civilians, including 8 children, were abducted.
Ma’an reports: Israeli forces Thursday shot and killed a Palestinian near the Beit Einun junction northeast of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron after an alleged stab attempt, witnesses and Israel’s army said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that Israeli military forces prevented Palestinian Red Crescent medics from accessing the shot Palestinian for medical treatment. The man was identified by his father who arrived at the scene following his death as Muayyad Awni Jabbarin, 20 from the West Bank town of Sa‘ir. The night before, Israeli Border Police at the Beit Einun junction opened fire on a Palestinian driver they described as “suspicious” before afterward detaining him. The junction near Hebron city has been site to at least four Palestinian deaths this month, among over 150 Palestinians to be killed since violence increased in the occupied Palestinian territory in October.
Palestinian activists are gathering in front of checkpoint 56 at the entrance to Shuhada Street in Hebron to stage a sit-in protest. The protest will be ongoing, continuing 24 hours a day. Youth Against Settlements member Issa Amro says: “The families are protesting because they want to live in peace and equality without checkpoints, closures, restrictions, and attacks by settlers and the military. We refuse to be registered as numbers and have our human rights violated just because we are Palestinian.”
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