On Saturday, Israeli soldiers injured dozens of Palestinians abducted the mayor of the ath-Thaheriyya town and shot the deputy mayor south of Hebron in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, during a nonviolent protest against the colonialist activities.
The residents nonviolently marched on their lands in the Shweika area in the town; dozens of residents held the procession on lands Israel intends to illegally annex to expand the Shim’a colony, built on stolen Palestinian lands.
The soldiers attacked the nonviolent protesters with gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing dozens to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation, in addition to shooting the town’s deputy mayor, Nayef Makhazra, with a concussion grenade in the leg.
They also attacked and abducted the mayor of ath-Thaheriyya, Bahjat Jabarin, and took him to a nearby military base.
An eyewitness said Israeli colonizers also attacked the procession in front of Israeli soldiers, adding that one colonizer fired live rounds.
It is worth mentioning that the Protections and Steadfastness Committees, in cooperation with various institutions and nonviolent activists against colonization, hold weekly processions in areas Israel intends to annex from the Palestinians, especially near existing illegal colonies and colonialist outposts.
Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.”
