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Follow Us on TwitterHebron quiet after tumultuous week 26Sep13 September 26, 2013
Alternative Information Centre - 25 September 2013
Quiet was reported in the southern West Bank city of Hebron Wednesday, after three days of clashes in which at least 25 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Clashes earlier this week took place primarily in the flashpoint of Bab al Zawiya, located in the separation area between Hebron’s H1 area (ostensibly controlled by the Palestinian Authority) and H2 (controlled by Israel). Palestinian medical sources report that at least 25 Palestinians were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets during this three-day period, with at least 12 others treated for effects of tear gas inhalation.
Downtown Hebron remained quiet today, although Israeli lifted the military curfew it had imposed earlier in the week and most of the temporary checkpoints established following the killing of an Israeli soldier in Hebron on Sunday night were removed. Few Palestinians were out in the streets while hundreds of settlers, both residents of Hebron and those visiting from other parts of the West Bank and Israel, moved freely through Hebron and celebrated the holiday of Shavuot. Several Palestinian-owned homes were reportedly stoned by settlers.
Daily life in downtown Hebron was severely disrupted this week. The Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) reports that the Al-Faihaa girls’ school, for example, was forced to cancel classes on Monday as so few students were able to reach school.
Israel exploited the killing of the soldier to continue its settlement policies in the heart of Hebron. The Hebron Rehabilitation Committee announced on Tuesday that Israeli settlers had reoccupied by Abu Rajib home, located to the west of downtown Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised settler takeover of the Abu Rajib home, from which Israeli court had evicted settlers in April 2012.
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