Defense Minister Amir Peretz
Photo: Gil Yochanan
Police, protesters clash in Bil'in (Archives)
Photo: Haim Tzach
3 injured during fence protest
Left-wing protesters clash with police during protest against security fence near Bil'in; Peretz orders IDF to permit Peace Now protest against settlers in Mount Hebron
Israeli and foreign leftwing activists clashed with security forces on Friday during a protest against the construction of the security fence near the West Bank village of Bil'in.
Protesters hurled stones at security forces who fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
Two protesters and a foreign photographer were injured in the clashes.
Police said some 200 protesters entered a fence construction site near Bili'n, defying an IDF decree declaring it a closed military zone.
Peres okays Peace Now protest in West Bank
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Friday ordered IDF troops to allow Peace Now activists to hold a protest against West Bank settlements in the Mount Hebron area.
Police and IDF forces prevented a bus carrying Peace Now activists from accessing the Mount Hebron area, but Peretz complied with demands by Meretz MK Ran Cohen and reversed the IDF's decision.
Peace Now demanded its activists be allowed access to the Havat Maon settlement to protest recent attacks by settlers against Palestinian school children.
The IDF said Friday that settlers set fire to a couple of caravans in a Palestinian-owned quarry in the West Bank village of Hawara overnight Thursday.
A Palestinian guard was beaten and injured during the attack. The guard managed to alert IDF troops at checkpoint nearby.
Community officials of the Har Barcha settlement, which lies near the quarry, denied accusations that settlers from their community are responsible for the attack: "These are unfounded allegations. Har Barcha residents have nothing to do with the fire; A Har Barch resident operates the quarry."
Efrat Weiss contributed to this report
