The students' vehicle, damaged Friday
Photo: Assaf Ben Ari
'A shower of stones' (archive)
Photo: Avi Mualem
Stones thrown at ambulance treating Palestinian
Paramedics treating injured Palestinian flee Issawiya after stones damage their vehicle
Stones were thrown Saturday at an ambulance and an MDA mobile intensive care unit near the village of Al-Azariya just a day after some young Israelis were attacked as they drove through nearby Issawiya, in east Jerusalem. The ambulance teams had been called to village to treat a young man who had fallen from the fifth floor of a building.
At about 6 pm, an ambulance was called to Al-Azariya, in the vicinity of east Jerusalem. Due to the critical condition of the patient, the intensive care unit was called. As paramedics treated the patient, a number of teens from Issawiya began throwing stones at the vehicle, making the paramedics' task difficult. The windscreen of the vehicles was damaged, as was another Israeli vehicle that was driving behind them.
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Hagai Bar-Tov, an MDA paramedic, spoke of those minutes of fear. "On the way to the hospital, as the paramedics treated the patient… we had to take care of our own lives at the same time," he said. "A shower of stones fell on us… Luckily the vehicle was armored, so the windscreen was damaged but not completely broken in."
"Unfortunately, we see once again how terror groups operate without limits, even when it's clear to all that ambulances don't do any damage anywhere in the world" said Danny Rotenberg, MDA spokesman in the Jerusalem region. "The team, which was in the middle of intensive treatment saving the life of a seriously wounded Palestinian patient, feared for its life, making the situation even worse."
Police said they had begun searches in the area to find those responsible for throwing the stones. The police view the incident gravely, as they do the attempted lynch of three students from Givatayim and an Australian tourist. Police sources said they intend to increase operations against stone throwing in Issawiya, to pressure the local population to keep public order.
The students and tourist, who only wanted to go to a pub in the city, almost paid with their lives after making a wrong turn. They said they followed the directions of children in the neighborhood and almost reached the center of Issawiya. When they tried to go back they saw the street was blocked, and saw the eldest child who had given directions throw stones at them. None of the group was injured, despite the shower of stones.
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