Israeli Forces Violently Suppress Anti-Settlement Protest, Video Shows Israeli Soldier Kneeling on Protester’s Neck
A video circulating on social media appears to show an Israeli soldier kneeling on a Palestinian protester’s neck while arresting him during a demonstration in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSVybESEA8
Israeli occupation forces today violently suppressed a peaceful Palestinian protest against land grab affecting several northern West Bank villages.
Those confrontations have come under heightened scrutiny amid the recent protests over racial injustice in Palsetine, as Palestinians linked their cause to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The U.S. protests were sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody after a white officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes as he cried out that he couldn’t breathe.
Hannoun said he was with dozens of demonstrators near the West Bank town of Tulkarem who were protesting Israeli plans to build an industrial park. Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 war and the Palestinians view it as the heartland of their future state.
“The Israeli soldiers hit me hard and one of them pressed his knee against my neck for a few minutes,” he told The Associated Press. “I stayed still to avoid more pressure on my neck, but people pulled me out.”
Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian protesters firing teargas at them and beating them up in an effort to crush their protest at a road that links the three villages of Jabara, al-Ras, and Shoufa, south and east of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, where Israel plans to build an illegal industrial settlement.
The protest was organized by local nationalist forces and the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission.
Journalists covering the event were also attacked and prevented from filming it.
The army set up checkpoints on the roads leading to the protest area and stopped activists attempting to reach it and prevented them from continuing on the road.
Tulkarm Governor Issam Abu Bakr, who participated in the protest, said that the protest will continue until the illegal settlement project is stopped.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in violation of international law.
