Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation when Israeli police and soldiers showered homes and protests with tear gas in East Jerusalem and several West Bank villages.

Several Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation Friday when Israeli police and soldiers showered homes and protests with tear gas in East Jerusalem and several West Bank villages, according to witnesses.

JERUSALEM
In Jerusalem, a number of elderly Palestinians were hurt and had to be admitted to hospital, with one reported in critical condition, when Israeli police showered the neighborhood of Silwan with dozens of tear gas canisters, falling mainly in and around the crowded homes.

According to Fakhri Abu Diab, member of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan, the Israeli police used a new kind of tear gas against the population, firing them in all directions and at homes seriously harming elderly people in the neighborhood.

He said Israeli police raided Silwan following the Friday prayer and fired tear gas at a tent where Palestinians hold their weekly worship and events to protest Israeli plans that aim at destroying their homes and turn them into a Jewish park.

Young residents, Abu Diab said, threw rocks and empty bottles at the police who responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

WEST BANK
Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Israeli army showered protesters in the villages of Nabi Saleh, Bili’in and Ni’ilin, in the Ramallah area, and Al-Ma’sara, in the Bethlehem area, with tear gas during the weekly anti-barrier protests.

In Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, residents clashed with Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas at the protestors. At least three people required hospitalization when tear gas canisters hit them in the leg.

In Bili’in, residents and members of Israeli and international solidarity groups marched to the fence separating their village from the agricultural land, and when they reached the fence, Israeli soldiers stationed behind it fired heavy rounds of tear gas at the protestors causing many to suffer from gas inhalation. One youngster was hit by a rubber bullet in the leg.

Similar anti-fence protests in Ni’ilin and Al-Ma’sara were broken up by force as residents reach the fence that is gradually eating up the villages’ rich agricultural land.