JERUSALEM: Israeli troops cleared a Palestinian protest camp in the Jordan Valley on Friday, ending a week-long demonstration against Israel’s refusal to pull out of the area in any future peace deal.
Soldiers, border guards and police asked the protesters to leave before forcefully evicting them, a statement from the army said.
“The agitators were evacuated due to rock hurling earlier this week at the main Jordan Valley route, and other legal considerations,” it said.
But protesters said the army had not given them any warning.
“At 1:30 a.m. (on Friday, 2330 GMT on Thursday) the army raided the village unexpectedly,” activist Diana Al-Zeer said.
“They started throwing sound grenades and were very violent while they evacuated us.”
Last Friday, around 300 Palestinians together with Israeli and foreign activists set up the camp in abandoned houses in the village of Ain Hijleh near Jericho in the West Bank to protest against Israel’s refusal to pull out of the Jordan Valley in the event of a peace deal.
In US-brokered peace talks, Israel has insisted on maintaining a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley, where the occupied West Bank borders Jordan.
But Palestinian leaders want a full withdrawal to make way for an international security force.
The UN last week slammed Israel’s ongoing policy of house demolitions, saying that more than 1,000 people had been displaced last year in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem by demolitions on the grounds that homes had been built without Israeli permits, “which are virtually impossible to obtain.”
The Red Cross said Thursday it had suspended provision of tents to displaced Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, in a rare protest over Israeli “confiscation” of aid material.
Security forces and Palestinians also clashed at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, with police arresting five people.
“Five were arrested for throwing stones at police officers, and police used stun grenades to disperse rioters,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Several Palestinians were injured, an AFP correspondent said.
Jerusalem sees regular clashes between Palestinians and police at the compound that houses the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques in the Old City.
Israel removes West Bank protest camp
Israel removes West Bank protest camp
UN chief condemns Israeli law blocking electricity, water for UNRWA facilities
- The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a move by Israel to ban electricity or water to facilities owned by the UN Palestinian refugee agency, a UN spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the move would “further impede” the agency’s ability to operate and carry out activities.
“The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations remains applicable to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), its property and assets, and to its officials and other personnel. Property used by UNRWA is inviolable,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said while adding that UNRWA is an “integral” part of the world body.
UNRWA Commissioner General Phillipe Lazzarini also condemned the move, saying that it was part of an ongoing “ systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct” the role it plays in providing assistance to Palestinian refugees.
In 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the agency from operating in the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency.
As a result, UNRWA operates in East Jerusalem, which the UN considers territory occupied by Israel. Israel considers all Jerusalem to be part of the country.
The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded, with its responsibilities transferred to other UN agencies.
The prohibition of basic utilities to the UN agency came as Israel also suspended of dozens of international non-governmental organizations working in Gaza due to a failure to meet new rules to vet those groups.
In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom said on Tuesday such a move would have a severe impact on the access of essential services, including health care. They said one in three health care facilities in Gaza would close if international NGO operations stopped.
