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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 4 Palestinians hurt in fire exchange with Yitzhar residents |
| 2009-04-25 |
| [Jerusalem Post Front Page] Three Yitzhar residents and four Palestinians were wounded in an exchange of fire when the Palestinians infiltrated the settlement. According to Palestinian reports, six Palestinians were wounded. According to the residents, several dozen Palestinians infiltrated a vineyard belonging to the settlement and several of them were hurling firecrackers and firing at the settlement's volunteer security squad which was scrambled to disperse them. Two of the men on the squad were lightly hurt. The settlers returned fire at the Palestinians and according to Palestinian reports for men were wounded in the incident. Magen David Adom paramedics treated the wounded settlers on the scene. Their injuries were light and did not require evacuation to a hospital. Later IDF troops arrived on the scene and used riot gear to chase out the Palestinians from the vineyard. The Palestinians fled to their village as soon as the military arrived, one of the settlers said. Earlier Friday afternoon, a Palestinian activist protesting the security barrier near the West Bank village of Ni'lin was moderately to seriously wounded by a tear gas canister, according to Palestinian sources. A number of other protesters were reportedly also hit by the canisters, as approximately one thousand protesters, including Palestinians, left-wing protesters and foreign passport holders demonstrated in the Ramallah area. No further injuries were reported. The IDF said that tear gas was fired after protesters threw rocks at security forces. While such protests are a weekly event, activists turned out in force on Friday, after a Bil'in resident died last week when he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister. Palestinian sources also claimed that 10 other protesters were lightly wounded. Since July 2008, four people have been killed by security forces at anti-barrier demonstrations in Ni'lin: Ahmed Mousa, 10, Yousef Amira, 17, Ghateb Khawaja, 22, and Muhammad Khawaja, 20. |
| Posted by:Fred |