November 13, 2009

Two Palestinians were injured Friday at the weekly anti-fence protest in the West Bank village of Naalin.

The protestors claim Israeli security forces have reinstated the use of Ruger rifles, which have been deemed live fire by the military prosecution. The IDF confirmed the use of the rifles, which can be used to fire live ammunition with relatively low force.

Earlier this year B’tselem appealed to the military prosecution with a demand to ban the rifles. Judge Advocate General Avi Mandelblit said in his response to the appeal that "the guidelines for use of this ammunition are severe, and parallel to those for the use of live ammunition".

In June a Palestinian was killed during an anti-fence protest in Naalin, assumedly from ammunition fired from a Ruger rifle. Four additional Palestinians were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile Friday afternoon 150 left-wing activists and Palestinians protested in the West Bank village of Bil’in, among them three MKs from the Hadash Party.

The protestors were demonstrating their solidarity with the party’s chairman, MK Mohammad Barakeh, against whom the attorney general has recently decided to file an indictment on charges of assaulting police officers in Bil’in in 2005.

The party’s secretary, Ayman Ouda, explained, "We felt that the indictment against Barakeh is actually an indictment against the legitimacy of our struggle, Jews and Arabs as one, against the occupation. We feel we are all defendants so we have decided to strengthen our battle until the charges are dropped."

Updated on November 13, 2009