Palestinian media reports said, earlier on Monday, that at least two Palestinians were shot and wounded by armed Israeli settlers, in the village of al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah city, in the central West Bank.
Palestinian chief for resisting the Israeli Apartheid Wall and illegal Israeli settlement construction, across the West Bank, Kathem Mohammad, told Palestinian WAFA News Agency that several armed Israeli colonists attacked a number of local Palestinian shepherds in the al-Mughayyir village, near Turmus Ayya village.
Mohammad noted that the illegal settlers used live ammunition to shoot the unarmed Palestinian men, one of whom was shot in the leg, while the other was shot in the abdomen.
He added that the two were transferred to the Palestine Medical Compound in nearby Ramallah city, before a contingent of Israeli troops arrived on the scene and began shooting tear gas canisters towards other local Palestinian residents, who were present during the settlers’ shooting.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s ministry of foreign affairs, released a statement, in which it strongly condemned what it termed frequent attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers’ militias, the shooting and wounding of two Palestinian residents.
The ministry’s statement, released shortly after the shooting attack, held Israeli troops responsible for those attacks, within what the statement described as Israeli protection of illegal Israeli settlers.
According to United Nations’ Security Council resolution, 242 of June 1967, Israel must immediately withdraw forces from the Arab lands it occupied in June 4 of that same year. Those Arab lands include the Palestinian East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Back in 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip and dismantled 17 illegal settlements. Since 2007, Israel has been enforcing a strict blockade on the coastal enclave.
Israeli settlement construction, which began in the late 1970’s, has always been viewed by many world bodies, including international law, as illegal, and an impediment to the long-envisioned two-state solution.
Recently, Israel has signalled plans to annex large parts of the Palestinian West Bank and wrestle full Israeli control the area. Key international parties, including the European Union, Arab States’ League and others, have rejected such an Israeli announcement.
Video: Reposted from Shehab News Agency
Imgae: Ma’an