Israeli Settler Security Guard Shoots Palestinian Teen in Northern West Bank

Wednesday February 10, 2010 17:36

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Local sources have reported that an 18-year old teenager from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus, was shot by an Israeli security guard from the settlement of Har Bracha, wounding him in the knee.

Iraq Burin village (photo by Michael Ramallah on flickr)

The incident took place after Israeli settlers and supporters who, were gathered on stolen Palestinian land in the settlement of Har Bracha called the settlement's security forces, reporting that Palestinians were throwing stones at them. The security forces responded by driving to the area in a sport utility vehicle and firing randomly.

The Israeli police who investigated the incident reported that around 15 settlers and their American and Canadian supporters had gathered near the edge of the settlement, and claimed that Palestinians threw stones toward them.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official, spoke with Israeli reporters about the repeated attacks by settlers against the villagers from Iraq Burin. He told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahranoth, “This is a quiet village of no more than 1,200 residents who suffer from repetitive assaults by settlers, without the Israeli authorities doing anything to stop it.”

Daghlas added that after repeated attacks by the settlers, with no response by Israeli authorities, and no attempts to intervene, some Palestinian teens had recently begun to fight back with stones against the settlers' bullets.

The injured youth was not identified, and it remains unclear whether he was involved in throwing any stones, or if there was actually any stone throwing at all.