B’Tselem, the Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, said in a report it published on Monday: “Israel does not recognize the right of residents to demonstrate, and the military refers to any demonstration in the village as disturbance, even when participants do not throw stones and do not resort to violence.”
The organization said (Israeli) soldiers and Border Police disperse protesters sometimes even before they leave the village and in most cases without them resorting to violence.
It added Israeli forces prohibit demonstrators from reaching the protest venue — Al-Qawwas Spring and the area around it — and prevent the procession from exiting the village toward the spring.
According to B’Tselem, the army declares the demonstration illegal at the outset, sometimes even before the procession begins. The army also issues an order declaring the entire village a closed military area every Friday, and blocks the roads leading to it.
As a result, persons from outside the village are unable to exercise their right to join in the demonstration.
The organization said that the Israeli forces use excessive means to disperse the demonstrations and occurs even when the demonstrators are nonviolent and pose no threat.
In a separate development, Jewish occupiers early on Wednesday attacked a Palestinian village near the West Bank city of Nablus and set fire to two vehicles, a Palestinian official said.
Abdulfattah Salah, the head of Burqa village’s council, said that the occupiers attacked village and set fire to two vehicles belonging to Sayel Kan’an and damaged a resident’s home.
Salah said that clashes erupted between the homeowners and the occupiers.
