05/12/2008
Israeli occupation security forces braced on Friday for more violence after Israeli hardliners went on the rampage against Palestinians in retaliation for the eviction of settlers from a disputed house in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil.
The entire southern West Bank was declared a closed military zone to prevent Israelis from converging again on the flashpoint city where a mob of Israeli extremists on Thursday shot and wounded three Palestinians, hurled rocks at others and torched homes, fields and cars.
Authorities feared the violence would continue as right-wingers vowed to exact revenge for Thursday's forceful eviction of some 250 settlers from the house that had come to symbolize hardliners' determination to fight for what they claim their God-given right to all the biblical land of Israel - including Palestinian territories.
"Already now there is great fear of a Jewish terrorist attack directed against Muslims," the Israeli daily Maariv warned.
Authorities were also worried about a Palestinian backlash amid simmering anger over the perceived failure of Israeli security forces to protect them from the rampaging mob in Al-Khalil.
Security was beefed up around occupied Jerusalem's mosque compound ahead of Friday prayers and access was restricted to Muslims holding Israeli identity cards and aged over 45 in the case of men, with no age restrictions for women.
Most Israeli media hailed security forces for finally removing the settlers from the Al-Khalil house on Thursday following an Israeli high court order on November 16.
Israeli police used stun grenades and tear gas to evict the settlers, dragging out several who refused to move, in an operation lasting less than an hour.
But Israeli authorities also came under harsh criticism for failing to protect Palestinians who live around what has been dubbed "the House of Contention."
"If the serious aggressions carried out by settlers continue, it will sabotage the peace process," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
A videotape distributed by Israel's B'Tselem human rights group shows a settler shooting two Palestinians and a guard from the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement firing into the air as relatives of the victims overpowered the gunman.
B'Tselem said it delivered the video to Al-Khalil police, demanding that the assailant be immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated.
The conservative English-language Jerusalem Post printed a picture of Israeli soldiers aiming their guns at Palestinians trying to reach their homes near the disputed building, and another showing relaxed-looking soldiers chatting with masked youths, apparently settlers, some of whom are holding rocks.
In 1994, an Israeli extremist massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, and the Palestinians say they are the biggest obstacle to Middle East peace talks.
Update by Lucia
B'Tselem footage shows settler shooting two Palestinian at close range
Link to this video
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has released graphic video footage showing settlers fighting with Palestinians in Hebron and shooting two men at close range in the hours after a settler house was evacuated by police yesterday.
The film, recorded by a Palestinian resident in Hebron, shows settlers attacking his house, which was in a valley close to the three-storey building where dozens of settlers were evicted by Israeli riot police. In the hours after the eviction, Jewish settlers rioted in Hebron, throwing stones at police and Palestinians and setting fire to Palestinian trees and attacking Palestinian homes. Most of the violence took place between the evicted house and the nearby hardline Jewish settlement of Kirya Arba.
The footage shows a settler firing a handgun and injuring two Palestinians, Hosni Abu Se'ifan, 40, who was hit in the chest and is now in a stable condition in hospital, and his father, Abd al-Hai Abu Se'ifan, 65, who was hurt in the arm. Others from the family then overpower the gunman until armed Israeli security guards from the Kiryat Arba settlement arrive and shoot several rounds over the heads of the Palestinians. The Abu Se'ifan family have frequently been targeted by settlers in the past.
B'Tselem handed the video to Israeli police in Hebron last night and was "demanding that the assailant is immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated".
"Additionally, the security forces must investigate the failures that allowed settlers to riot throughout the afternoon and evening in Hebron's Palestinian neighbourhoods," the rights group said.
Since early last year B'Tselem has given out more than 100 small video cameras to Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank to allow them to record human rights abuses, and particularly the increasingly violent clashes with settlers. The group says the video recordings encourage accountability and are frequently used as evidence to bring cases against soldiers and settlers who break the law.
There are around 470,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and their numbers are increasing every year, even though all settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law.
The settlers at the Hebron house claimed they had bought the building legally nearly two years ago from a Palestinian and said they had documents and videotape as proof. However, the Palestinian has since denied selling the building to the settlers and last month the Israeli supreme court said the house should be evacuated until the ownership dispute was settled. The 15 settler families were joined by dozens of supporters ahead of the eviction and the house quickly became their latest symbol of defiance against the Israeli government.
Lucia: PIC is back
NABLUS, (PIC)-- A large number of IOF troops invaded at an early hour Thursday the Nablus city breaking into and ransacking a number of houses in different areas of the city.
Palestinian local source reported that the invading troops stormed Attour area near the Fatimid school and the village of Burqa, north of the city, without any reported kidnappings.
In another development, the Hebrew radio said that Israeli settlers on Wednesday night sprayed slogans against Islam on the walls of a mosque in the village of Nabi Elias, east of Qalqilya city.
Yeah, I've seen it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile I was checking their french and arabic versions (this one with the help of an online translator, which makes horrible translations, but at least it allows to have an idea of what is going on)
It was only the english site which failed. Maybe an attack by zio hackers. It's good that it is back