West Bank violence continues for fifth straight day

On fifth straight day of clashes between Palestinians and the IDF, protests continue to rage in West Bank and in east Jerusalem

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, BEN HARTMAN
Palestinian protesters next to burning tyre in Hebron 370 (photo credit: reuters)
Palestinian protesters next to burning tyre in Hebron 370
(photo credit: reuters)
Saturday marked the fifth straight day of clashes between Palestinians and the IDF across the West Bank and in east Jerusalem.
Violence first broke out Tuesday, after news broke that prisoner Maissara Abu Hamdiyeh, 63, had died of esophagus cancer.
On Friday, Border Police officers arrested four rioters during a violent protest of a few hundred people at Abu Dis in east Jerusalem, said Border Police spokesman Idan Iluz.
The arrests were made after the rioters began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police and IDF personnel, Iluz said.
On Friday a soldier was lightly wounded in the Beit Lakia village next to Ramallah, where 15 Palestinians threw stones at the IDF, an army spokesman said.
At the Kalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, some 25 Palestinians threw stones at the IDF, an army spokesman said.
Some 150 Palestinians continued to clash with the IDF by the Police Officer’s checkpoint in Hebron, where they threw stones, while the IDF responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to an army spokesman.
Some 200 Palestinians threw stones and burning tires at the IDF in the Palestinian village of Kadom near the Ariel settlement, an army spokesman said.
In Nabi Salih, in the Binyamin region, some Palestinians held their weekly Friday protest in which some 70 Palestinians clashed with the IDF by throwing stones, while the IDF responded with tear gas.
Some 50 Palestinians clashed with the IDF in the El Arub village in the Gush Etzion region near the Carmei Tzur settlement.
Violence continued in Gush Etzion on Saturday, where Palestinians threw stones near the settlements of Tekoa and Carmei Tzur and near Bethlehem.
An incident almost broke out near the Yitzhar settlement in Samaria when the IDF and Border Police dispersed a group of Palestinians who appeared ready to try to ignite vegetation in the area, according to the IDF.