- Hundreds of left-wing protesters demonstrated in Tel
Aviv on Thursday evening against the Israel Defense Forces' killing
Wednesday
of two Palestinian youths in the West Bank.
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- The two teenagers were shot dead near the village of
Beit Likia, west of Ramallah, during a protest against the construction
of the separation fence in the area.
-
- Thursday's protest started opposite the Defense
Ministry's
Kirya compound in Tel Aviv and from there demonstrators walked to Likud
Party headquarters on King George Street. Some 200-300 people attended
the rally.
-
- Once the protest left the Kirya compound, the police
announced that it was illegal and begin arresting protesters. At least
six people were taken in by police. Police said they were arrested for
blocking roads.
-
- MK Mohammed Barakeh addressed the rally and told them
that "on the day of [remembrance for] the big Holocaust, we must make
sure that there is no 'little holocaust' of Palestinians." He also
said that the relatively large number of participants, given the short
notice of the rally, proves that the "radical left is waking
up."
-
- Earliers Thursday, IDF Central Command chief Yair Naveh
suspended a senior Combat Engineering Corps officer who commanded the force
that shot dead the two Palestinians.
-
- Naveh said the conduct of the deputy company commander
was defined as "unreasonable."
-
- Oudai A'asi, 14, and his 15-year-old cousin Kamal A'asi,
both from the West Bank village of Beit Lakia, were shot dead while
throwing
stones together with dozens of other protestors at a separation fence work
site next to a village north of Highway 443.
-
- Around 6 P.M., some 200 youths arrived on the scene and
began throwing rocks at bulldozers and at the five soldiers who arrived
on the scene in a jeep.
-
- Palestinians on the scene said the soldiers initially
opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas grenades and at a certain
point began firing live ammunition in the air.
-
- Palestinian sources said the cousins were hit by live
ammunition.
-
- Ramallah hospital officials said Uday was hit in the
hip and thighs and Kamel was hit in the chest.
-
- One IDF soldier was lightly wounded by Palestinian
stone-throwers.
-
- Nineteen-year-old Karem Yusuf, who was near the two
casualties,
described the scene.
-
- "I saw two soldiers but it is possible there were
more," he said. "Near the soldiers was a group of 10 youths and
around them were some 200 more. The distance from the first group to the
soldiers was about 20 meters. Kamel and Uday were next to me when they
were shot. A soldier fired several shots and I saw that Kamel was wounded
in his chest."
-
- The IDF said that "according to an initial
investigation,
a small IDF force securing the separation fence work site was surprised
when hundreds of youths attacked them. The force made use of riot control
weapons but at a certain point there was a danger to their lives and the
force's commander ordered they fire first in the air [with live ammunition]
in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators. When this had no effect, he
opened fire at the legs of several demonstrators in an attempt to disperse
them. The circumstances of the event will be examined."
-
- "This is a violation of the cease-fire," Nabil
Abu Rudeineh, advisor to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas,
told Reuters. "Israel is looking for excuses to raise tensions and
to depart from implementing the Sharm (el-Sheikh)
understandings."
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