June 20, 2009

In the West Bank, the IDF fires tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in a nonviolent demonstration against the confiscation of Palestinian land in Wadi Abu al-Rish n. of Hebron to expand Bet Ayn settlement (the scene of heavy settler violence last quarter; see Quarterly Update in JPS 152), also violently beating several Palestinians and an international activist; Jewish settlers at the scene throw stones at the protesters, injuring a Palestinian photographer covering the incident. Other Jewish settlers fr. Bet Ayn uproot 150 Palestinian olive trees nr. the settlement. (OCHA, PCHR 6/25)