IOF Kill Mother of Seven, And a Student
Palestine Media Center
22 May, 2003Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shot dead a Palestinian high school student and a mother of seven children in the village of Qarawat Bani Zaid, north of Ramallah, eyewitnesses and security sources said.
In a raid on the northern West Bank town yesterday, IOF troops opened fire at a group of young stone-throwers, killing 17-year-old Ramez Arrar and Rasmya Hamdallah Arrar, 35, said Mousa Abu Hmeid, a hospital director in the nearby city of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, IOF soldiers re-imposed a total lock-down on Ramallah, sealing it off completely and severing it from the rest of the West Bank. Hundreds of students and employees were prevented from reaching the nearby University of Birzeit and the city itself.
In Bethlehem, two children were moderately wounded when IOF troops open fire at a group of youths pelting them with stones, Palestinian security sources said.
Witnesses said the occupation soldiers opened fire and tear gas canisters at a high school while students were sitting end-of-year exams, forcing students to leave their exams and evacuate.
Muhanad Sa’ada and Arafat Rabay’a aged 16 and 17 were injured in el-Obeidieh, east of Beit Sahour. Two other students were arrested.
Further north, IOF raided overnight the town of Saida, near Tulkarem, for the third time in one day. Also, two houses belonging to activists killed by IOF were demolished in the city of Nablus.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) cancelled a visit to Beit Hanoun, after IOF troops manning tanks and bulldozers re-invaded it after it withdrew from the northern Gaza Strip town for only a few hours.
The five-day re-occupation of Beit Hanoun rendered eight people dead and thousands of citrus and olive trees uprooted. Agriculture is deemed the main lifeline of the residents of this Gaza Strip town.
After Israeli forces re-occupied Beit Hanoun and “started a new wave of destruction” on Wednesday, according to Sofian Abu Zaida, chairman of the Palestinian liaison committee with Israel, Abbas issued a statement calling on Israel to stop invasions of Palestinian areas.
“These actions only feed into the cycle of violence and deepen the hatred between the two peoples,” AP quoted Abbas as saying.
On Thursday, IOF five children were injured in Beit Hanoun when IOF opened fire at them as they were going to school, Al-Jazeera reported.
In the same Gaza strip town, an Associated Press reporter came under fire from IOF troops.
Several bullets hit Hazem Moussa’s armored car, which was marked with “TV” signs, but he was not hurt.
Moussa confirmed that there were no Palestinian activists shooting in the area.
In Bethlehem, two other photojournalists said they were abused by IOF troops near the Church of the Nativity on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
IOF meanwhile arrested seven Palestinians in Hebron, three in the Jenin area and another in Nablus’ Askar refugee camp.
The IOF also confirmed they had demolished 147 homes belonging to activists since the beginning of the Intifada, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
An UNRWA report has revealed that over 12,000 houses have been demolished by IOF in the occupied territory over the 31-month-old Intifada for independence.