Description

Photo:
Imad Abu Shamsiyeh. File. Published by Maan News
_____

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian activist and his son were assaulted by a group of Israeli settlers, on Saturday afternoon, in Hebron City of the southern occupied West Bank.

Activist Imad Abu Shamsiyeh, from Defenders of Human Rights group, told Ma'an that Israeli settlers attacked his family home by throwing rocks, injuring him and his son Saleh; Imad sustained injuries in the leg while Saleh was lightly injured in his arm.

Abu Shamsiyeh pointed out that the attacking Israeli settlers were under armed security by Israeli forces.

He added that Israeli soldiers then forces him to stay inside his house.

Abu Shamsiyeh said that a fence he had installed around his house, located in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in the Old City of Hebron, prevented further injuries among family members.

Tel Rumeida has long been a flash-point for tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and military, as it is located near illegal Israeli settlements whose residents are notoriously aggressive toward Palestinians.

The neighborhood is located within the area of the city designated as H2, an area taking over the bulk of Hebron's Old City that is under full Israeli military control, and the site of five illegal Israeli settlements which continually expand into surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods.

The Israeli-controlled H2 area is home to 30,000 Palestinians and around 800 Israeli settlers who live under the protection of Israeli forces.

Some 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers now live under the protection of the Israeli military in the Old City of Hebron, surrounded by more than 30,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian residents of the Old City face a large Israeli military presence on a daily basis, with at least 20 checkpoints set up at the entrances of many streets, as well as the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque itself.