11 INJURED, 3 DETAINED AS ISRAELI FORCES ATTACK NABI SALEH PROTEST
Ramallah, 23 Jumadil Awwal 1436/14 March 2015 (MINA)– A Palestinian was shot with a live bullet on Friday and ten others were beaten by Israeli soldiers during a protest in the central West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, a local activist committee said.
Three activists were also reportedly detained by Israeli forces during the march in the town northwest of Ramallah.
The detainees include two Palestinian activists identified as Bushra Tamimi and Shireen al-Araj as well as Israeli activist Tali Shapiro, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The Palestinian popular resistance committee in the village said in a statement that Israeli soldiers “directly attacked the peaceful march, firing tear-gas canisters, stun grenades and live fire” at protesters.
The said that one protester was injured by a live bullet in the leg.
Seven other activists were assaulted by soldiers who struck them with the butt of their rifles, the committee said.
The statement added that three children were also assaulted by Israeli soldiers during the protest.
One of the children was identified as Marah Naji Tamimi, who was taken to the Yasser Arafat Hospital in Salfit after a soldier reportedly beat her on the head with the butt of his rifle.
Dozens of other protesters suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation during the protest.
An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an that there was a “violent riot of 200 Palestinians” and that Israeli soldiers “operated to disperse the riot.”
“When they identified an instigator throwing a Molotov cocktail and they felt an immediate danger, they opened fire toward his lower extremities.”
The people of Nabi Saleh have been protesting weekly for five years, demanding that lands confiscated by Israeli authorities to build the separation wall be returned.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to stop construction of the separation wall within the occupied West Bank.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will run inside the West Bank.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967. (T/P010/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
