Hundreds of protesters, including international solidarity and Israeli peace activists, demonstrated today in the South Hebron Hills in the farthest south of the occupied West Bank in protest of Israeli settler violence and the Israeli denial of access to water to Palestinian shepherding communities in the area.
Rateb Jabour, a local anti-colonization activist, said the protesters chanted slogans against the Israeli colonial settlement expansion at the expense of the native Palestinian population, as well as slogans that condemned the ongoing Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian civilians.
The protesters marched towards a tent which was recently erected by Israeli settlers in the area, but were quelled by the Israeli occupation soldiers who fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters.
On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of masked Israelis, marking the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, threw stones at Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills. The rocks smashed cars and injured at least 12 Palestinians including Mohammad Bakr Hussein, aged three.
In videos from the scene, Israeli settlers can be seen breaking Palestinian car windows and hurling stones at Palestinian homes.
The confrontations took place near the small Palestinian shepherding village of al-Mufaqara, a cluster of homes located close to two illegal Israeli outposts, Avigayil and Havat Maon.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency