Thirty-seven Palestinians, an IDF soldier, and an Israeli activist were wounded in a series of clashes between protesters against the security fence and troops Sunday morning between Deir Kadis and Kharbata near Ramallah.
It was the most serious outbreak of violence at the fence since three Palestinian demonstrators were killed at a protest along its route near Ramallah last month.
According to the IDF, the soldiers responded with tear gas and rubber bullets to a barrage of stones thrown by protesters. Israeli and Palestinian witnesses said it was the soldiers who disrupted an otherwise peaceful demonstration.
"In the early hours of the morning there were large disruptions, including massive stone throwing in the direction of the force which was securing the work on the security fence," said the IDF Spokesman. "An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in his face. For more than an hour, the force responded to the protesters with dispersion measures, including stun grenades and tear gas. After the disruptions continued and got stronger, they began using rubber bullets."
Palestinian demonstrator Abu Ahmed said protesters arrived at 7 a.m. ahead of the bulldozers working on the fence. He said the group of demonstrators was peaceful, but that the soldiers pushed them away anyway with batons and tear gas.
There was a separate group of Palestinian kids on a hill about 100 meters away from the soldiers who were throwing stones, said Ahmed. They were too far for their stones to have actually hit the soldiers, he said.
He said the soldiers shot rubber bullets at the large group of demonstrators. Ahmed said 37 Palestinians were injured, including women and children, and that four Palestinians aside from the Israeli activist were shot in the head with rubber bullets. He added that 13 of the wounded were taken to the hospital in Ramallah.
Raz Avni was among a group of six Israelis who arrived around 8: 30 a.m. to support the Palestinian demonstrators.
He said he smelled tear gas the moment they got to the scene. They saw soldiers throwing tear gas canisters and shooting rubber bullets at a crowd of hundreds, many of whom were already lying on the ground.
"We took a bullhorn and started shouting at the soldiers in Hebrew that this was a peaceful demonstration," said Avni. But instead of deterring the soldiers, it appeared only to draw the barrage of rubber bullets in their direction, said Avni.
They dropped to the ground with the other protesters to avoid the bullets, he said. At times, they would try to get up to use the bullhorn and to shout again, that there was no reason to shoot.
"I have never seen the army shooting so many bullets at people for no reason," said Avni, adding that he saw no stone throwing for the several hours he was on the scene.
Jonathan Pollak said, "I was holding the bullhorn and the bullets went past my ears. We just lay on the ground and the bullets kept hitting the ground next to us. At some point they stopped shooting and we changed positions," said Pollak. "Itay took the bullhorn, he spoke just a few sentences and he was shot between the eyes."
The Israeli activist was taken to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer, where he underwent surgery for injuries to his eyes and nose. He is in good condition, according to the hospital spokeswoman.
Ahmed said that by 12: 30 p.m. the demonstrators were dispersed and workers on the fence began cutting down olive trees. He estimated that about 100 trees were chopped down on Sunday.
There have been a number of clashes between protesters and the IDF in that area in the last few months.
On February 26, three Palestinians were killed during a demonstration in which 10 border policemen along with many Palestinians were wounded. In December, an Israeli protester was wounded by soldiers at an anti-fence demonstration near Mas'ha.
In protest against the IDF actions at the demonstration on Sunday, a number of Israeli activist groups including Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, and Anarchists Against the Wall held a demonstration in the evening outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
