Approximately 300 residents, Israeli and international peace activists protested against the Separation Wall in Aboud village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Soldiers attacked the procession and fired gas bombs; several residents, in addition to one Israeli and one international peace activists, were injured.Hanna Khoury, member of the Popular committee Against the Wall in Aboud reported that the procession started after Friday prayers at the village’s mosque, and headed towards a construction site of the Separation Wall.
The army intercepted the protest and clashed with dozens of youth on Aboud-Shuqba road. Soldiers fired gas bombs at the youth as additional forces arrived in the area and surrounded it.
Several protesters managed managed to reach the area where the bulldozers are parked and hurled stones at the bulldozers and the guarding room.
Khoury added that soldiers also invaded the village and clashed with dozens of youth there.
As the protest took off, one Israeli peace activist was injured in his knee and was transferred to the Caritas Clinic in the village. He was transferred later on to a hospital in Israel after he rejected to receive treatment at an Israeli nearby settlement.
Also, one Italian peace activist was injured in his leg after attempting to bar an Israeli jeep from chasing Palestinian youth.
Aboud village is inhibited by 2300 residents, who depend on their Olive orchards as their main source of livelihood. Israeli repeatedly annexed orchards from the villagers for settlement construction, and recently grabbed 5000 Dunams for the construction of the Wall.
Hundreds of olive trees were uprooted throughout the first Intifada which erupted in 1987, and during the Al Aqsa Intifada which erupted late 2000.
