Renewed clashes in West Bank between Israeli forces, anti-settlement protesters

Ramallah, January 15 (RHC)-- Clashes have erupted between anti-settlement protesters and Israeli forces in several areas across the occupied West Bank, leaving a number of Palestinians injured.  On Friday, Israeli forces attacked weekly anti-settlement protests in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, using tear gas. There were no immediate reports of casualties among the protesters.

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 troops.

Palestinian media outlets cited local sources as saying that the Israeli forces razed a number of roads that lead to Sobeih Mountain earlier on Friday in a bid to block the protesters from reaching the mountain. Israeli troops also fired tear gas and rubber bullets at an anti-settlement rally in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, on Friday.

On the same day, Palestinians took to the streets of the village of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya City, to protest against Israel’s settlement policy and were met by Israeli troops who used rubber bullets and tear gas against them. The participants in the rally was also carrying photos of Nasser Abu Hamid, a cancer patient held in Israeli jails, as his health condition seriously deteriorates amid deliberate Israeli negligence.

There are thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Geneva Convention.  Israeli jail authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.

Six Palestinians were hit with rubber bullets during the Kafr Qaddum clashes, while tens of others suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli forces.  Similar clashes also occurred in al-Khalil on Friday.