VARIOUS: ISRAELI SOLDIERS WOUND MORE THAN 40 PALESTINIANS DURING CLASHES IN THE WEST BANK TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

Record ID: 399906

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI SOLDIERS WOUND MORE THAN 40 PALESTINIANS DURING CLASHES IN THE WEST BANK TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
  • Date: 29th November 1997
  • Summary: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 29, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/GV: VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS MARCHING DOWN STREET IN DEMONSTRATION (2 SHOTS) 0.14 2. GV: ISRAELI SOLDIER PUSHES BARRICADE ACROSS ROAD 0.18 3. GV: PALESTINIAN THROWING ROCKS AT ISRAELI SOLDIERS 0.21 4. SV: ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHOOTING TEAR GAS AND RUBBER BULLETS
  • Embargoed: 14th December 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BETHLEHEM AND NABLUS, WEST BANK/ EAST JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA28DAZTKNTWNNJT4GP7DAE412F
  • Story Text: INTRO: Israeli soldiers have wounded more than 40 Palestinians with rubber bullets fired during clashes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, according to eyewitnesses.

    An eyewitness said on Saturday (November 29) that one of the men was hit in the head during clashes and his condition was not yet known. A Palestinian police officer and three journalists were among the others who were lightly injured.

    The soldiers, trying to disperse stone-throwers, also fired teargas which hit a nearby Palestinian girls' school in session at the time, they said. The pupils were evacuated.

    The protesters were demonstrating against Israel's imprisonment of Itaf Alayan, a Palestinian woman affiliated with the militant Islamic Jihad group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks against Israelis.

    The clashes erupted when Arab demonstrators broke past a Palestinian police blockade in an effort to reach Rachel's Tomb, where Israeli soldiers are stationed, witnesses said.

    They said protesters had taken to the rooftops where they were hurling stones at Israeli soldiers.

    One of the wounded was Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, who was hit with a rubber bullet in his left hand.

    Demonstrations were taking place across the West Bank calling for the release of Alayan. On Saturday she entered the 39th day of a hunger strike aimed at securing her release.

    "I appeal to you my brothers and sisters to help me and other prisoners and not to disappoint us," Alayan said in a letter smuggled out of jail and published on Saturday in Palestinian newspapers.

    "I have no other choice, it's freedom or martyrdom," the letter said.

    Protesters were carrying pictures of a veiled Alayan and Palestinian flags.

    Alayan, who was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 1987 for attempting to carry out an attack against Israelis and for trying to kill a prison guard, was released in February 1996 with 30 woman prisoners in line with interim peace deals.


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