Several Palestinians were left injured at noontime Friday after the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the central West Bank province of Ramallah.
Israeli army troops broke into Umm al-Sharayet neighborhood in Ramallah and attacked Palestinian anti-occupation protesters with randomly-shot spates of bullet fire and teargas canisters.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it transferred two protesters to Ramallah hospitals so as to be treated for rubber-bullet wounds. At least 10 other protesters received field treatment. Dozens more choked on teargas.
According to eye-witnesses the IOF kidnapped two Palestinians following a round of home break-ins in Abu Kweik Street in the area.
Sometime earlier the occupation forces closed off the main access roads between Ramallah and Nablus along with the Zaatara checkpoint to secure a marathon staged by Israeli settlers.
Palestinian civilians and drivers have been denied access out of and into their homes and workplaces as a result of the abrupt closure. The Israeli army said the cordon is to be kept until noontime.
Israeli jeeps police troops and military patrols also showed up at the scene to protect the contestants.
Meanwhile Palestinian youth Aboud Harzallah was kidnapped by the Israeli soldiers from his family home in Jenin’s southwestern town of Yabad.
The IOF further attacked a peaceful march calling for unblocking the main road to Khirbet Qelqes south of al-Khalil province.
A number of demonstrators sustained breathing disorders due to heavy teargas inhalation.
The marchers chanted slogans denouncing Israel’s infringement of Palestinians’ freedom of movement which they said led to the death of a number of civilians as they were forced to pass through unsafe bypass roads due to the Israeli closures.
The occupation forces also came down heavily on press officers as they attempted to cover the event and detained a number of protesters.
A number of cameramen photojournalists and activists choked on teargas. Moments later the IOF declared the area a closed military zone.
The IOF systematically attacks the peaceful marches and rallies staged on a weekly basis near Beit Hagai illegal settlement outpost south of al-Khalil.
Khirbet Qelqes has been isolated from its environs by Israel’s Bypass Road 60 leading to Israeli settlements south of al-Khalil.
In 2000 the IOF sealed off the main entrance to Qelqes with sand barriers severing its ties with the neighboring Palestinian towns and villages.
