Israeli Forces Attack Palestinian Protests in West Bank, Al-Quds
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Several protests held across the occupied West Bank and in East al-Quds were suppressed by the Israeli forces on Friday.
Clashes erupted between Israeli forces and anti-settlement protesters in the town of Beita, and the village of Beit Dajan in the occupied West Bank province of Nablus, on Friday.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that 20 people were hit with rubber bullets fired by the Israeli troops during the clashes in Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, adding that two emergency medical technicians were also wounded when Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at the ambulance car they were riding.
Six protesters were also hit with rubber bullets on Sobeih Mountain in Beita, while 36 others suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops.
Since May, Beita has seen intensified clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting against a settlement outpost that has been established on Sobeih Mountain by settlers under the protection of Israeli forces.
In the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya, Two Palestinians were also hit with rubber bullets, while tens of others suffered breathing difficulties due to tear gas fired by Israeli forces to suppress a weekly anti-settlement protest on Friday.
The protest was also staged to express solidarity with the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the occupied East al-Quds and Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Also on Friday, dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces attacked a protest in the center of the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
The protest was held to condemn the expansion of a military barrier installed at the entrance to Shuhada Street, which connects the city’s neighborhoods to one another.
The city of al-Khalil also saw a shooting attack carried out by an Israeli settler against Palestinians.
WAFA news agency said an Israeli settler used live ammunition against four Palestinians near Shuhada Street.
The report said the attack left four Palestinians, including three children, injured. The health condition of one of the children was described as serious.
Israel occupied East al-Quds, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. All the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the settlement activities in several resolutions.
Also on Friday, Israeli troops suppressed a protest in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East al-Quds, arresting three demonstrators.
The protesters were carrying the Palestinian flag and chanting slogans calling for an end to Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the neighborhood.
“Today, We came out as Palestinians and supporters to affirm the Palestinians right to self-determination and to stop forced displacement in Sheikh Jarrah, in particular, and the occupied al-Quds and Palestine, in general,” WAFA cited Member of the Knesset from the Joint List Aida Touma Suleiman as saying.
Tensions heightened across the Palestinian territories on February 13, when Israeli forces and illegal settlers renewed their attacks against Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah. The neighborhood has been the scene of frequent crackdowns by Israeli regime forces on the Palestinians protesting against the threatened expulsion of dozens of families from their homes in favor of Israeli settler groups.
The initial tensions that erupted in Sheikh Jarrah last year in part sparked a May 2021 war between the Israeli regime and resistance groups in the Gaza Strip.