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RAMALLAH, February 4, 2012 (WAFA) – Palestinian residents of the Ramallah area village of Nabi Saleh said Saturday that motorcycle-riding armed Jewish settlers broke into their village after midnight in an apparent attempt to vandalize the village mosque, according to the head of the village council Bashir Tamimi.

He said settlers, who numbered around 10 riding four motorcycles, tried to reach the village’s mosque in the center of Nabi Saleh apparently to set it on fire but village residents, who noticed them, throw rocks at them and forced them to retreat.

The village had earlier on Friday witnessed the weekly protest against seizure of Nabi Saleh land and water for the benefit of Jewish settlements built in on village land.

Almost 20 protesters, including a French national, were injured during the weekly Friday protest, according to local activists, when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets at them when they approached an area the army has seized to expand the settlement of Halamish.

The French protester was shot in the neck, initially thought to be by a tear gas canister, but later reported to be a rubber-coated steel bullet. Her condition was said to be serious.
M.H./M.S.