News, April 18, 2009

Hundreds join funeral procession of slain Bil'in protester; witnesses release photos

Date: 18 / 04 / 2009  Time:  16:35
Ramallah - Ma'an -

The body of 29-year-old Basem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh was taken from a Ramallah hospital Saturday afternoon and carried on a cloth stretcher to his village of Bil’in, accompanied by hundreds of mourners.

Basem was killed Friday when an Israeli occupation terrorist soldier aimed a tear-gas canister at his chest and fired.

“Ibrahim was not even close to the wall when he was a shot from a distance of less than 20 meters. He was carrying a Palestinian flag and shouting that this was a nonviolent demonstration. The tear gas canister hit and entered his chest, killing him,” member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall Nasir Samara explained.

In their statement condemning the killing, the Israeli peace organization Gush Shalom noted:

This escalation was not caused by the demonstrators' behavior, in which there had been no change, but to new instructions given to the military forces on the ground. Whether by explicit instructions or by a tacit nod and a new "spirit of the commander", the finger on the trigger was loosed and authorization given for the tear gas containers as lethal missiles.

This is the second time soldiers have fired on unarmed demonstrations from a lethal range in the past two months. On 13 March 2009, American activist Tristan Anderson was shot in the head by the same type of ammunition, putting him in a coma and nearly killing him.

Israeli forces kill one Palestinain boy and injure another near Ramallah

Date: 18 / 04 / 2009  Time:  09:21
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

A Palestinian teenager was killed and another was injured by Israeli terrorist soldiers near the Al-Jalazon Refugee Camp north of Ramallah Friday night after allegedly attempting to throw a Molotov cocktail at settler homes.

A youth identified as 16-year-old Muhammad Nuwwara received a fatal gunshot in the chest, and was evacuated to the governmental hospital in Ramallah. A second boy, 19-year-old Muhammad Balasha, was hit in his thigh and transferred to Shaikh Zayid Hospital in Ramallah. Both boys are from Al-Jalazon, a refugee camp just south of the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El.

Palestinian youth killed near Ramallah

Saturday April 18, 2009 07:08 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli occupation terrorist soldiers shot and killed on Friday at night a Palestinian youth and wounded another near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Israeli occupation terrorist army claimed that the youth attempted to hurl a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli military jeep. The incident raises the number of Palestinians killed on Friday to three.

The youth was identified as Mohammad Ali Nuwwara, 16, from Al Jalazoun refugee camp in Ramallah.

Medical sources at the Ramallah governmental hospital reported that Nuwwara was shot by a live round in his chest.

The sources added that another youth, identified as Mohammad Balaysha, 19, was injured by military fire.

The two came under Israeli military fire near Beit Eil Israeli settlements, north of Ramallah.

Israeli military sources claimed that the soldiers opened fire at Palestinian youths after they hurled Molotov cocktails against home in Beit Eil settlement, killing one and wounding another.

It is worth mentioning that a few months ago; a Palestinian youth was shot and killed in the same area. The army also claimed he attempted to hurl a Molotov cocktail at soldiers and settlers.

 Earlier on Friday, Israeli settlers shot and killed a Palestinian youth who allegedly infiltrated Beit Hagai settlement near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, while carrying a knife.

The youth was identified as Rabah Hijazi Sidir, 17, from Hebron. Settlement guards claimed that the man managed to stab one settler before he was shot and killed.

On Friday afternoon, soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian youth participating in the non-violent weekly protest against the Annexation Wall in Bil’in village, near Ramallah.

Local sources told IMEMC that Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah, 30, died when soldiers shot him in the chest with a tear gas bomb. A number of civilians including a French peace activist were injured.

Israeli gunboats fire at fishermen, Palestinian runs over two Israeli policemen

[ 18/04/2009 - 10:24 AM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)--

Israeli gunboats opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip, on Saturday morning, local sources told PIC reporter.

They added that the shooting damaged a number of boats and blocked fishermen from fishing at sea, their sole source of income.

Meanwhile in occupied Jerusalem, two Israeli policemen were run over on Saturday by a Palestinian driving a Mercedes in northern occupied Jerusalem, Hebrew media reported.

According to the initial police report, the officers were on "routine" police activity at the time of the incident, inspecting a Palestinian taxi at the Hazma checkpoint, when the man, driving a Mercedes, came out of one of the lanes and "rammed into them", the media report said, adding that the man was arrested immediately after the accident.    The officers were rushed to hospital with moderate and light injuries to their lower extremities, the report added.