Report: 2 Palestinians shot after stone throwing incident

Beit Omar residents lightly wounded after driver responds to stone throwers with gunfire. Palestinian Authority rushes to criticize Israel

Yair Altman|Published: 03.21.11 , 15:38

Two Palestinian residents of the village of Beit Omar who were throwing stones at Israeli vehicles, were injured when the driver of the car, a settler, opened fire at them, the Palestinians reported. The two men were lightly wounded and transferred to a hospital in Hebron for medical care. Police and IDF forces were en route to the scene.

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The Palestinian Authority rushed to issue a statement criticizing Israel and said that "the Israeli government is responsible for settler violence against Palestinians." The Palestinians also said that the injured men weren't throwing stones at the time.

Yosef Abu Maria, a resident of Beit Omar, told Ynet: "Two Palestinians aged 39 and 55 were in the village attending a funeral. A settler arrived at the cemetery and started shooting at them and wounded them."

He also said that IDF forces could have prevented the incident. "The IDF has an observation post from which they could see everything. The soldiers saw everything and didn't intervene. After the shooting the settler fled."

Abu Maria added that things heated up after the shooting as dozens arrived at the scene. According to Abu Maria, IDF and police forces arrived in the village and used crowd dispersal means against the protest.

Earlier on Monday it was reported that Mahmoud Awad, a 25-year-old man from the village of Hirbet Tuba in south Mount Hebron was stabbed in the chest several times by a veiled man near Havat Ma'on. He sustained moderate wounds.

An apparently Jewish suspect fled the scene. Police suspect the attack was nationalistically-motivated. The victim was taken to the Alia hospital in Hebron, despite the Civil Administration's offer to take him to an Israeli medical center.

Kamal Moussa Rabai, a resident of the village of Tawana in the West Bank witnessed the attack and said: "I was in my home on the edge of the village when I heard screaming. I went outside and saw Awad riding a donkey.

"A masked man approached him and stabbed him several times on the left side of his body." Rabai added that the man then ran towards Havat Ma'on and disappeared.

Rabai noted that this wasn't the first time in he last few days that Palestinians were being targeted. He said that a group of masked men who came from Havat Ma'on threw rocks at them. He also said that on Saturday a group of settlers, some masked, hurt their sheep.