Palestinian shot during settler march through West Bank towns

NABLUS, Palestinian Territories - One Palestinian was shot and wounded during an Israeli settler march through several West Bank Palestinian towns on July 31 that sparked clashes with locals, first responders, the army and an AFP journalist said.

“Our crews in Nablus are treating a young man who was shot with live ammunition in the abdomen during an Israeli army and settler raid on the al-Junaid area,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Israeli settlers organised a march on the morning of July 31 in the northern West Bank in memory of two Israelis killed last week during clashes in the Palestinian town of Tell, near Nablus, during which four Palestinians were also killed.

An AFP journalist at the scene said that between 100 and 150 settlers including women and children came near Tell from the west, the direction of Havat Gilad, the home settlement of one of the killed Israelis.

The settlers, roughly ten of whom were armed, marched through fields near Tell, through the nearby town of Sarra and the Nablus neighbourhood of al-Junaid, while army troops stationed along the route periodically dispersed settlers and Palestinians when clashes occurred, the AFP journalist said.

The journalist saw settlers raiding at least one building in Tell, and four in al-Junaid, where a clash broke out with Palestinian youth, before the army dispersed the crowd, firing tear gas.

In a statement, the army said that in al-Junaid “Palestinians in the area hurled rocks at the Israeli civilians, and an Israeli civilian fired warning shots into the air.”

“IDF soldiers who had been deployed in the area ahead of their arrival responded to disperse the gathering and evacuate the civilians from the area,” the statement said.

The army said a Palestinian was shot in a later incident in the area, when Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers.

“The soldiers responded by initiating the suspect apprehension protocol, which included firing toward a primary instigator,” the army said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, but in recent years the number of settlements in the Palestinian territory – which are illegal under international law – has soared.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, home to around three million Palestinians.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, following the deaths of two Israelis in Tell, he would allow the establishment of more settlements in the region. AFP