JERUSALEM: Israeli troops cleared a Palestinian protest camp in the Jordan Valley yesterday, ending a week-long demonstration against Israel’s refusal to pull out of the area in any future peace deal.
Soldiers, border guards and police asked the protesters to leave before forcefully evicting them, a statement from the army said. “The agitators were evacuated due to rock hurling earlier this week at the main Jordan Valley route, and other legal considerations,” it said.
But protesters said the army had not given them any warning.
“At 1:30am (on Friday, 2330 GMT on Thursday) the army raided the village unexpectedly,” activist Diana Al Zeer said.
“They started throwing sound grenades and were very violent while they evacuated us.”
Last Friday, around 300 Palestinians together with Israeli and foreign activists set up the camp in abandoned houses in the village of Ain Hijleh near Jericho in the West Bank to protest against Israel’s refusal to pull out of the Jordan Valley in the event of a peace deal.
AFP
