Region | Palestinian Territories
Israel blocks West Bank village over barrier protests
Israeli forces blockaded a Palestinian village on Saturday in what the army called an open-ended effort to curb protests against the construction nearby of the West Bank barrier.
- Reuters
- Published: 22:12 July 5, 2008
Ramallah: Israeli forces blockaded a Palestinian village on Saturday in what the army called an open-ended effort to curb protests against the construction nearby of the West Bank barrier.
Troops were encircling Ni'lin, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, under orders to vet those entering or leaving and turn back would-be demonstrators against the barrier, which has been condemned internationally for taking in occupied land.
"These protests have been getting increasingly violent, and they must be stopped," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
The barrier, a network of razor-wire fences and concrete barricades, is intended to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers, Israel says.
However, it also loops around Jewish settlement blocs, cutting off some West Bank villages from swathes of farmland.
Ni'lin residents said the closure was imposed on Friday, which also saw a march against the barrier during which around 20 protesters were hurt by rubber bullets fired by Israeli security forces.
Four protesters from an Israeli solidarity group were arrested, an organiser of the demonstration said.
Casualties and other patients were prevented from leaving the village for treatment, said Salah Al Khawaja, spokesman for the Ni'lin Committee for Resisting the Wall.
The military spokeswoman said security forces were attacked by hundreds of Palestinians who pelted them with rocks and rolled burning tyres at them, injuring a border policeman.
She denied that the closure was affecting the movement of patients.
The military spokesman said the blockade would be in place indefinitely and "in accordance with security needs". Israel Radio said it would be reviewed on Monday.
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