RAMALLAH: Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian teenager on Wednesday in clashes in the occupied West Bank sparked by the lockdown of 150,000 residents of a refugee camp on the outskirts of East Jerusalem.
Osama Adawi, 18, was killed in Al-Aroub refugee camp north of Hebron, and another Palestinian was seriously injured by Israeli fire during clashes at a military checkpoint near Ramallah.
The clashes erupted during a “day of anger” called by Palestinians over the Israeli blockade of the Shuafat camp and the town of Anata. Israeli forces have locked down Shuafat since Oct. 8 in the hunt for a man they say killed a soldier in a checkpoint gun attack.
They have been accused of using sound bombs and rubber bullets against the camp’s residents. “This is collective punishment, an unjust, uncivilized, inhuman siege, and 150,000 citizens should not be punished to pursue one young man,” Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the veteran imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque and former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, told Arab News.
The Israeli lockdown prevented about 20,000 students from reaching their schools in East Jerusalem and more than 35,000 workers from getting to their jobs outside the camp.
Hundreds in Shuafat protested against the Israeli curbs on Wednesday. “We have decided that our dignity is more important than accepting collective abuse and punishment. We will continue our protests until the closure of the camp and the neighboring town of Anata is ended,” resident Yousef Mukhaimer told Arab News.
Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah official, said Palestinians were defending themselves and their property against attacks by the Israeli army and settler gangs, whether in Shuafat or the rest of the West Bank. He said the Israeli government’s continued aggression had ignited the protests.
In East Jerusalem, schools and shops closed their doors, and the city’s streets emptied as Palestinians showed solidarity with Shuafat.
There were also fears of looming clashes further north, in Nablus. Taysir Nasrallah of the Fatah Revolutionary Council told Arab News the situation was volatile after Israel closed roads into the city and began drone patrols — signs of an impending large-scale military operation.
“Israel and its army do not work for any solution other than a security solution, so the violent Palestinian reaction will continue,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority cannot ask the people to calm down and stop the protests against Israeli aggression. We are not an insurance company that guarantees Israel’s security.”