In the West Bank, the IDF fires live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and percussion grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall in Bil‘in (injuring 3 Palestinians, including a pregnant woman); fires tear gas and beats several Palestinians at a similar nonviolent demonstration in al-Ma‘sara (injuring an Israeli man and a 9-yr.-old Palestinian child). Jewish settlers fr. Karnei Shomron and Keddumim nr. Qalqilya force Palestinian farmers off land nr. the settlement, block roads in the area to Palestinian traffic. Jewish settlers fr. Ramat Yishai in Hebron stone a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance transporting a patient fr. a hospital to her home, forcing the ambulance back to Hebron hospital; the IDF observes but does not intervene. (OCHA 4/15; PCHR 4/16)
Friday, April 10, 2009