Israeli troops wound scores of Palestinians in West Bank protest
Jerusalem, Jun 25 (EFE).- Israeli troops used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds Friday against Palestinians protesting a new Jewish settlement on the occupied West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent said.
Every Friday for the last few months, residents of Beita have come out to demonstrate as settlers erect the Eviatar “outpost” on a hill overlooking their village, located 9 km (5.6 mi) south of Nablus, the second-most-populous city in the West Bank.
Over the past week, growing numbers of Palestinians have joined nightly torch-lit processions to denounce the project for the “outpost,” so called because it does not have official authorization from the Israeli government.
The Red Crescent said that four people were wounded Friday by live rounds, while 69 others had impacts from rubber bullets.
Five people, including two adolescents, have been killed since the start of the Eviatar protests, according to Palestinian officials.
Demonstrators typically hurl rocks at the soldiers deployed to break up the protests.
Israeli military officers said that they expect to remove the unauthorized settlement as soon as next week, yet the area’s Palestinian residents have been barred from the site for “security reasons.”
On Wednesday, the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett approved plans for new public buildings and industrial facilities at existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Palestinians draw comparisons between the situation in Beita with the evictions of Arabs from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, to make the properties available to Jewish settlers. EFE lfp/dr
