Several incidents of Israeli military violence were reported on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank in the Ramallah and Hebron districts.In Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, a group of religious settlers from the illegal settlement of Givat Harewl began a prayer ritual at the entrance to the town. When residents confronted the settlers, a fist fight broke out between the two groups, mostly comprised of men.
Following the arrival of the Israeli military, the scuffle continued, but video of the event show that while the soldiers on the scene did little to keep the groups apart initially, once a settler was knocked to the ground by a Palestinian, they opened fire on the Palestinian group.
Residents reported that the ammunition used was live, rather than the non-lethal munitions such as rubber coated steel bullets.
In the city of Hebron video was captured by a B’Tselem cameraman of an Israeli soldier with the rank of lieutenant head-butting a 17-year-old Palestinian youth, named as Thair Ghanam.
The cameraman stated that the soldier had ordered a group of children to wait by a wall at the checkpoint of Beit Hadassah, but Ghanam stood his ground. The video shows the lieutenant grabbing Ghanam by the throat after each of them shoved one another and striking forward with his head.
Later shots, clearly shows Ghanam bleeding from the nose.
Ghanam was then arrested, but released a short while later, allowing him to receive medical treatment at a local Hebron hospital.
The incident took place in front of another officer, with the rank of Captain, and the Israeli military told Israeli daily, Ha’aretz, that the video only showed selective parts of the incident. The military claims that the officer was violently assaulted after asking the group of youths to produce identification, yet in the footage, which the Israeli military admits took place after this alleged assault, the lieutenant is shown to unmarked and showing no signs of violent assault.
