Israeli forces Friday afternoon forcefully dispersed a rally marking the 29th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
The soldiers cracked down on the rally organized in denunciation of ongoing deadly Israeli army incursions across the west Bank and on the eve of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in the Old City of Hebron, showering the participants with volleys of tear gas canisters, concussion grenades and ammunition.
A number of participants sustained gunshot injuries, including a one seriously injured after being directly hit by a concussion bomb in the head and several others by live ammunition in their lower extremities. Dozens others suffered tear gas suffocation.
Twenty nine years ago, Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein broke into the Ibrahimi Mosque and opened fire at Palestinian Muslim worshippers, killing 29. Four Palestinians were killed on the same day in the clashes that broke out around the Mosque in response to the massacre.
In the aftermath, the mosque, known to Jews as Tomb of the Patriarchs, was divided in two, with the larger part turned into a synagogue while heavy scrutiny was imposed on the Palestinians and areas closed completely to them, including an important market and the main street, Shuhada street.
The city of Hebron, which houses the Ibrahimi Mosque, is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinians and about 800 notoriously aggressive Israeli settlers who live in compounds heavily guarded by Israeli troops.
Israel has expelled the only international monitors protecting Hebron’s Palestinians from 800 heavily guarded settlers, one of whom committed the 1994 massacre that triggered their deployment.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency