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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian armed with knife shot as she approached troops near West Bank settlement – report
2024-01-24
[IsraelTimes] A Paleostinian woman armed with a knife approached a military position and was shot by troops near the perimeter fence of the West Bank settlement Psagot, Army Radio reports.

The outlet says troops "neutralized" the woman before she was able to enter the settlement. Her condition is unclear.

There are no reports of Israeli casualties in the incident.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
What tactics does Hamas use in battles in Israel.
2023-10-08
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Text and video taken from the V Kontakte page of “Military Chronicle” channel.

The main focus is on mobile groups. Dump trucks, pickups and even mopeds are used for transportation. The attack began early in the morning, when almost all the Israeli army soldiers were asleep and were in the barracks or on leave at home. According to preliminary data, the border guards were killed by sniper fire and did not have time to raise the alarm.

Heavy Israeli armored vehicles captured at border crossings are not yet used for combat, but armored vehicles with machine guns, automatic grenade launchers and other weapons are already being actively used by Palestinians against Israeli police units. The latter cannot yet adequately respond and are not able to stop the threat.

Massive shelling of Qassam missiles is gradually being transferred from civilian and military targets to infrastructure. The Rutenberg power plant in Ashkelon is reported to have been hit.

Strikes by Israeli drones, aircraft and helicopters are so far ineffective: the Palestinians are actively using MANPADS both from residential buildings and from ambushes prepared in advance.

Without lengthy preparation and detailed intelligence, it is almost impossible to plan, much less carry out, such an attack.

✔What kind of special forces can Israel send to fight Hamas?

The Israeli army has begun to use aircraft and drones to destroy Hamas mobile groups, but has not yet achieved serious success.

What is happening in Israel at the moment?

Palestinian infantry actively uses MANPADS and fires at aerial targets, making the mission more difficult. To neutralize the threat, Israel sent several special forces at once, but their number may be increased.

What divisions does Israel have?

The first to join the work against Hamas were YAMAM fighters - special police forces, an analogue of the American SWAT and the Russian SOBR. They are responsible for limited anti-terrorism operations.

It is expected that fighters from “Saeret Maktal” and “Duvdevan” will arrive in the special operation zone in a few hours to reinforce them. These units operate within the structure of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and are a functional analogue of the special forces of the GRU General Staff in Russia.

Additionally, units from other districts and branches of the military may be involved in the operation: “Saeret Golani” (reconnaissance squad of the Golani infantry brigade), “Saeret Tsankhanim” (reconnaissance squad of the paratrooper brigade), “Saeret Nahal” (reconnaissance squad of the Nahal infantry brigade) ), as well as “Saeret Givati” (reconnaissance squad of the “Givati” infantry brigade).

In parallel, the deployment of the Psagot battalion is expected. Its employees are responsible for communications and electronic warfare in the combat zone.

Also, to suppress Hamas activity, anti-partisan special forces “Saeret Egoz” and “Saeret Maglan”, whose main specialization is combating equipment and ground operations, can be deployed. Also in the near future we can expect the deployment of the “Egoz” (“Nut”) battalion, responsible for the destruction of the enemy in the occupied territories.

✔What territory does Hamas currently control?

By the evening of October 7, Hamas had advanced 35-40 km from the GAZA Strip. At the moment, the Palestinians control about 1.5 thousand square meters. km of Israeli territory - from Kerem Shalom in the west to the outskirts of Sderot, Netivot and Ashkelon in the north and northeast. Hamas controls the territory of the Eshkol district council, as well as the roads leading towards the Israeli Hatzerim airbase, where Israeli F-35I Adir fighters are based, and the entrances to the Tzehelim military base.

✔What objects can Hamas attack: analysis of the Military Chronicle

There are several key objects in the immediate vicinity of the occupied territories. Some of them have already been captured, others have been evacuated.

What objects are we talking about?

The first target that Hamas forces managed to capture was the Hatzerim airbase. It was from there that the Israelis hurriedly took out F-16 fighters.

Just 15 km from it, as the Palestinian infantry moves east, is the city of Beersheba, behind which is the Nevatim airbase. Lockheed Martin F-35I (Adir) fighters have been stationed there since November last year.

Ramon air base is located directly in the direction of Hamas's western flank, 75 km from Gaza. Israeli F-16I Sufa fighters were based there.

Palmachim Air Base is located between Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. It was one of the first strikes by Qassam missiles. The 161st UAV Squadron of the Israeli Air Force and several dozen Elbit Hermes 450 attack drones are located there.

Almost in the same place, between Gedera and Rehovot, there is the Tel Nof airbase. The 133rd and 106th squadrons of the Israeli Air Force with F-15 fighters are based there.

The Sdot Micha military base is located 15 km west of Jerusalem. There is one of the most classified facilities in the country: a missile unit with Jericho-3 ballistic missiles.

If the operation of these facilities is paralyzed and expensive equipment is destroyed, Israel can significantly reduce the number of airstrikes, which at the moment are the only effective response to Hamas.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Troops shoot at Palestinians hurling firebombs at West Bank post; 1 said killed
2023-09-30
[IsraelTimes] IDF says pair of suspects approached military post outside Psagot settlement with Molotov cocktails; PA health authorities say one died from wounds

Israeli troops shot up two Paleostinians who threw Molotov cocktails toward a military post near a West Bank settlement on Friday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Health officials cited by the Paleostinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa said one of the assailants sustained critical injuries and later died of his wounds. The second Paleostinian suffered light injuries to the lower limbs in the shooting, according to the report.

Wafa named the fatality as Muhammad Jibril Rummana, without providing his age or residence, but said both were young Paleostinian men.

The IDF said in a statement Friday night that troops opened fire on the two Paleostinians after they hurled "Molotov cocktails at a military post" outside the settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah.

There were no casualties among the Israeli troops, the military said.

The IDF said the two received medical treatment following the shooting.

Wafa reported that the two Paleostinians were in a vehicle outside the Psagot settlement when they were fired upon. The news agency claimed Israeli forces prevented Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy ambulances from providing treatment.

Early Friday, the military said troops responded with live fire after Paleostinian suspects traveling in a vehicle opened fire outside the settlement of Beit El, north of Jerusalem. The IDF said soldiers who were on an operation nearby shot at the vehicle, hitting one suspect.

Separately, the military said troops arrested one suspect in the Ramallah suburb of El-Bireh in the West Bank overnight. During the arrest, residents threw stones and firecrackers at the soldiers who responded with riot dispersal means.

The suspect was transferred to security forces for interrogation, according to the IDF.
Update from Al Ahram at 8:00 p.m. EDT:
A Paleostinian activist and member of the Islamist Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, movement was killed on Friday evening by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, according to multiple sources.

"Mohammad Jibril Roummaneh died as a result of serious injuries caused by bullets fired by the occupying forces in El-Bireh" northeast of Ramallah, said the Paleostinian Ministry of Health in a statement.

It reported that a second Paleostinian had been injured but gave no details.

Hamas issued a statement describing Roummaneh as one of its members who fell as a "heroic martyr" while "defending the freedom of (his) people" near the settlement of Psagot.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians open fire at military post near Jenin; 17 suspects detained in raids overnight
2023-02-03
[IsraelTimes] Military says no soldiers hurt in overnight incidents; Psagot settlement given lockdown orders for 3 hours after suspected infiltration

Paleostinian button men shot up a military post near the northern West Bank city of Jenin early Thursday, as troops conducted extensive raids across the West Bank that saw 17 wanted Paleostinians arrested, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The military said a structure at the post near Jenin was hit by at least one bullet, but no injuries were caused.

Separately, as troops were operating in the northern West Bank city of Nablus to arrest wanted Paleostinians, shooting was heard as dozens hurled stones at the forces, the IDF said.

On Wednesday, American and Paleostinian officials confirmed a report that the Biden administration (aka the Wilmington comorra)
...the pack of self-imagined masterminds of strategy and intrigue at the service of the Biden Crime Family and a grateful nation...
has been urging the Paleostinian Authority to adopt a plan aimed at boosting its security presence in the northern West Bank, where fighting between Israeli forces and local gangs has grown increasingly deadly.

In recent months, the PA has seen its control over growing swaths of the West Bank slip away, particularly in Jenin and Nablus. Israel says that as a result, it has been forced to send its own troops into those areas — which under the Oslo Accords are supposed to be under full PA control — to carry out arrests of security suspects.

In the past, similar raids may have been carried out by the PA, which maintained security cooperation with the IDF until last week.

Many of the Israeli raids have sparked increasingly violent mostly peaceful festivities with armed Paleostinians frustrated over the incursions and the PA’s willingness to cooperate.

Also in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, the IDF said troops shot at Paleostinians hurling stones at them in Qalqilya, adding that at least one suspect was hit.

The military said troops operating in the southern West Bank city of Hebron stopped a suspicious car, in which a handgun was found. Four men in the car were detained.

The 17 Paleostinians who were wanted over suspected terror activities were taken to be questioned by the Shin Bet security agency.

No soldiers were hurt in the overnight incidents.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
a suspect infiltration alert sounded shortly before 3 a.m. on Thursday in the settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah. Residents were ordered to remain in their homes and lock their doors and windows as troops conducted scans of the area. An all-clear was given by the IDF’s Home Front Command after about three hours.

The overnight West Bank raids came as the Israeli Air Force conducted Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip in response to a rocket attack on southern Israel on Wednesday evening.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinians say teen killed by rubber bullet in clashes near Ramallah
2022-05-12
[IsraelTimes] A Paleostinian teenager died after being struck by an Israeli rubber-tipped bullet during festivities near Ramallah this morning, the Paleostinian Authority health ministry says.

Paleostinian health officials name the victim as 18-year-old Thair Khalil al-Yarouzi. According to the ministry, the bullet struck him directly in the heart, killing him.

The Israeli army confirms that troops fired rubber bullets at Paleostinians who threw stones at an Israeli military outpost near the Psagot settlement, and says they hit several people.

Israeli security forces frequently use rubber-tipped steel bullets as a form of crowd control. The rounds can maim, blind or even kill their targets; rights groups have advocated strongly limiting their use.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian gunman opens fire at IDF troops in Ramallah, is shot dead
2021-12-23
[IsraelTimes] Israeli army says Paleostinian shot at them from passing vehicle as soldiers entered city to search for suspects; Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, praises attack.

A Paleostinian gunman shot up Israeli troops Wednesday night from a passing car as they entered the outskirts of Ramallah, the Israeli army said. The soldiers returned fire, killing the assailant.

According to the military, Israeli soldiers entered the city’s al-Bireh neighborhood to detain several Paleostinians who had approached the boundaries of the nearby settlement of Psagot.

During the search, the gunman opened fire. The soldiers shot back, wounding him. The man, identified as 26-year-old Mohammad Issa Abbas, later perished in a Ramallah hospital, the Paleostinian Authority health ministry said.

It was not clear whether the gunman was connected to the suspects sought by the soldiers. No Israeli soldiers were maimed, according to the army.

Recent weeks have seen an uptick in Paleostinian attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. At least nine incidents have taken place over the past month and a half, many of them in Jerusalem.

Hamas officials were quick to praise the reported attack on Wednesday night, pledging that more would soon follow. The terror group did not claim Issa as a member, however.

"The occupation must expect more such responses of resistance," Hussein Abu Kweik, a senior figure in the group’s West Bank division, told official Hamas television.

Abu Kweik added that the coming days would be "pregnant" with "resistance activities."

"Our people will not wave the flag of surrender and will continue to resist by every means," Abu Kweik said.
Related:
Ramallah: 2021-12-14 Is the Biden Administration at War with Israel?
Ramallah: 2021-12-08 Taylor Force Act addition seeks to block 'pay for slay'
Ramallah: 2021-12-07 Algeria pledges to donate $100 million to Palestinian Authority
Link


Europe
Dutch parliament passes motion against mandatory labeling of settlement products
2019-11-20
Follow up to this article on the EU settlement labeling directive from a few days ago.
[IsraelTimes] Coalition-approved decision calls on government to object to EU court’s ruling as discriminatory, unless similar standards are applied to all disputed territories around the world.

The Dutch parliament on Tuesday approved a motion pushing back against a Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Court of Justice decision that ordered the labeling of Israeli goods made in West Bank settlements.

The motion, approved 82-68, calls on the government to object to the ruling, unless similar standards are applied to all disputed territories around the world. It deems the singling out of Israel in such regard unfair and discriminatory.

Israel has heavily criticized the the court’s ruling last week, calling it discriminatory and noting that there are more than 200 territorial disputes across the world, but that the European court had never ruled on any of them.

The Dutch vote, supported by Christian groups in parliament and backed by the governing coalition, does not compel the government to act and is largely symbolic. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
diplomatic officials told the Ynet news site that the strong support from the coalition indicated it would guide government policy to an extent.

Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Naor Gilon thanked politicians for their support and expressed hope that if the court ruling stands, Dutch leaders "will adopt their own recommendation and not implement a discriminatory resolution."

An Israeli diplomatic official told the Israel Hayom newspaper that Jerusalem hoped other European countries would follow the Dutch lead and question the court ruling.

According to the Luxembourg-based court, the EU’s highest legal instance, "Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin, accompanied, where those foodstuffs come from an Israeli settlement within that territory, by the indication of that provenance."

The court took on the case after Psagot Winery ‐ which is located in a settlement by the same name just north of Jerusalem ‐ challenged a 2016 ruling by a French court that said goods produced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights must be labeled as originating in an "Israeli settlement."
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
East Jerusalem lawyer sentenced to 13.5 years in jail for shooting attacks
2019-07-31
[IsraelTimes] Tarek Barghout convicted of carrying out several attacks against Israelis in West Bank alongside Paleostinian former terror leader Zakaria Zubeidi.

The Ofer Military Court on Tuesday sentenced an East Jerusalem lawyer to 13.5 years in jail over four shooting attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, Hebrew-language media reported.

Tarek Barghout, who has an Israeli ID card and belongs to Israel’s Bar Association but lives in Ramallah, committed some of the attacks together with Paleostinian former terrorist leader Zakaria Zubeidi,
..for many years he was head of the Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades in Jenin, though in recent years the PA exiled him to Ramallah. The Martyr Brigades are the military wing of Fatah. It was claimed the Brigades were dismantled in 2007, but evidence militates against that, given that many members work for PA security forces during the day...
who is being charged with carrying out attacks against Israelis dating back over a decade.

Both Zubeidi and Barghout worked for the PA’s Prisoner Affairs Ministry.

All the terror attacks committed by Barghout ended without casualties or with Israelis suffering minor wounds from glass shards, the reports said.

Barghout signed a plea deal with prosecutors, which in a rare occurrence was reached during the initial stages of the investigation.

He began cooperating with his interrogators only after the deal’s principles were laid out. During his questioning, Barghout incriminated Zubeidi.

Both have been in jug since their arrest in late February in Ramallah. Both men were charged in the Samaria Military Court in May.

The Shin Bet security service has said Barghout and Zubeidi shot up an Israeli bus traveling outside the Psagot settlement last December, but failed to hit their target due to inclement weather.

According to the agency, the two had been planning to carry out another shooting attack on the night they were arrested. An M-16 assault rifle and magazines that the security service said were used in the attacks were found in their possession at the time of the arrest raid.

Up until his arrest, Barghout worked on behalf of the Paleostinian Authority representing terror suspects in both civilian courts in Israel and military courts in the West Bank.

Since Zubeidi is accused of many more attacks, including some that had previously been excused under an amnesty deal, the case against him was still ongoing. In May, the Samaria Military Court ordered that he be held behind bars until the legal proceeding against him were completed.

Zubeidi, a 43-year-old former commander for Fatah’s military wing, has been indicted on 24 counts for his role in a number of shooting and bombing attacks starting in 2003.

During the Second Intifada, which broke out in 2000, Zubeidi served as the commander in the Jenin region of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. He was also suspected of being one of the chief architects of several terror attacks during that time period.
Al Arabiya adds:
Tareq Barghout, a Ramallah-based lawyer who represented Paleostinians accused by Israel of security-related offenses, was himself arrested in February, along with Paleostinian Authority official Zakaria Zubeidi.

"Barghout fired at Israeli buses and at security forces on a number of occasions," the army said.

Zubeidi, a former head of a bad boy group who later became an official of the PA commission for Paleostinians in Israeli jails, is still awaiting trial.

Both men were charged in May with carrying out shooting attacks in the Ramallah area between November 2016 and January 2019, in which three Israelis were slightly injured.

According to Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency the pair used Zubeidi’s official PA vehicle for transport.

Israeli lawyer Leah Tsemel, representing Barghout, said that he alone fired the shots.

"He said in his statement that he opened fire after feeling that Paleostinians were being treated very unjustly by Israeli courts," she told AFP.

She said that he was also distressed by having to accompany bereaved Paleostinians to receive from Israeli authorities the bodies of loved ones killed in conflict with Israeli forces.

"Once, Barghout fired from a distance at a settlers’ bus to make them understand that they can never feel secure in the occupied territories," Tsemel said.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
4 Israelis wounded, 1 Palestinian killed in West Bank vehicular attack
2015-11-15
[Ynet] Police initially report a car accident but finally rule it as an attack due to Paleostinian's vehicular suspicious movements at Psagot settlement's entrance.

Four Israelis were maimed and a Paleostinian was killed Saturday night in a collision between two vehicles near the Psagot settlement in the West Bank in a vehicular attack.

Security forces were not sure at first that it was a terrorist attack believing it to have been a car accident. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
following the suspicious movement of the Paleostinian's vehicle at the entrance to Psagot, West Bank district police determined that it was in fact a vehicular attack.

Three Israelis were lightly maimed and one moderately maimed in the attack. The incident was transferred to the IDF and Shin Bet for investigation.

Yisrael Ganz, deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council and a resident of Psagot, said tonight that "the vigilance of the guards at the entrance gate most likely prevented a much more serious attack. A Paleostinian terrorist armed with giant knife tried to enter the settlement with a car with yellow (Israeli) license plates. Following the inspection of the settlement's guard he turned to the settlement's access road and intentionally hit the car of a resident of Psagot head on. We have been the victim of terrorist attacks on a dialy basis for weeks now, in the form of stones and Molotov cocktails. We call for a restoration of deterrence and protection of Psagot immediately."
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Troops foil stabbing near Abu Dis, shoot attacker dead
2015-11-11
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian teen armed with knife runs at guards; moments later, Paleostinian enjugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
for attempted attack near Qalqilya


Border Police rubbed out a Paleostinian teenager Tuesday afternoon as he attempted to stab officers near the East Jerusalem village of Abu Dis, in the third stabbing attack of the day against Israelis. According to police, officers approached the man at the Kiosk Junction in order to search him. He then pulled out a knife and ran at the guards who shot and disarmed him on the spot.

"He mumbled something to me, I was sure that he had come to ask for assistance, he suddenly pulled out a knife and ran at me," described one of the officers.

The assailant died of his wounds at the site. No other injuries were reported. He was later identified as a 16-year-old from the West Bank city of Jenin, the Walla website reported.

Also Tuesday afternoon, a Paleostinian was arrested in Ras el-Tira near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya for allegedly attempting to stab an IDF soldier. According to initial reports on Channel 10, the attacker was participating in a riot at the site. No IDF soldiers were hurt in the incident. There was no immediate word on the condition of the attacker.

The attacks come on the heels of two earlier incidents in Jerusalem. In the northeastern neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev, two Paleostinian youths stabbed a security guard at a light rail station, moderately wounding him. The injured guard fired at his two attackers, wounding the younger one, aged 11. Passengers subdued the second attacker, aged 13, as he attempted to flee.

Minutes later, a Paleostinian assailant attempted to stab security guards at the Damascus Gate of the Old City, who shot and disarmed him. The attacker, a 37-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was taken to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital at death's door where he died of his wounds. Police released footage of the attack caught on security cameras.

Also Tuesday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a bus traveling on Route 443, in the West Bank northwest of Jerusalem. The bus sustained damage but there were no injuries, according to Israel Radio.

In a separate incident, a man has was lightly injured in a stone throwing attack in the West Bank outside Ramallah. He was treated at the entrance to the Psagot settlement.
From the Jerusalem Post, a report about consequences:
Following Tuesday's attack in Pisgat Ze'ev, politicians worked on bills to lower the minimum age under which an assailant may receive a prison sentence. Currently, minors under the age of 14 cannot be sent to prison, though some are sent to a home for troubled youth.

MK Anat Berko (Likud) submitted the bill on Monday, before the train attack took place, and requested that the legislative process be accelerated. The bill proposes that the minimum age for a prison sentence be waived in cases of minors who commit crimes with a nationalist motive.

"The recruiters take advantage of the loophole in the law, knowing that the children won't be sent to prison," said Berko, a professor of criminology whose expertise is in Paleostinian suicide kabooms. "Even the children know that, so it is easier to convince them to go out and attack."

Berko called for "urgently closing the loophole that could cost human lives." In the meantime, police said heightened security will be maintained in Jerusalem and the West Bank amid a probe to determine if Tuesday's attacks were independent or coordinated.
About the Pisgat Ze'ev attack, Ynet adds the following about the two youngsters:
The two attackers were Muawiya and Ali Alqam, residents of the Shuafat refugee camp. A source told Ynet that their uncle is a well-known figure in the camp and that this uncle has over the past six weeks called for terrorism against Jews and escalation of festivities.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
West Bank: Palestinian Killed In Clashes With IDF
2014-08-10
[Ynet] 19-year-old Paleostinian killed near Jerusalem, around 30 Paleostinians maimed near Hebron after anti-Gazoo operation protesters turn violent.

IDF troops killed one Paleostinian and maimed dozens of others protesting against the army's Gazoo campaign on Friday in the West Bank, Paleostinian medical officials said Friday evening.

The person killed was Mohammed Qatri from the Al-Amaari refugee camp near Ramallah. The 19-year-old Paleostinian was killed in festivities near the Psagot settlement between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Citing medical source, AFP reported that one man was maimed by a live shot to the chest, while another 29 received lesser wounds from a mixture of live fire and rubber bullets in a protest in Hebron.

The army said that soldiers were attacked by about 300 violent protesters, who rolled burning tires and threw a petrol bomb and rocks.

"The soldiers responded by firing riot disposal means," a spokeswoman said, adding that those means included 0.22 caliber rifle fire.

Earlier, about 2,000 people, many waving green Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, banners marched through the city.

There were similar protests in Ramallah and outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus, while on the outskirts of Bethlehem the Israeli police said that "hundreds" of protesters - some masked, others carrying model rockets - threw stones and petrol bombs at border police, who dispersed them, also with "riot disposal means."

There were no reports of serious injuries on either side in that incident.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian stock market plunges in response to Ukraine tensions.
2014-03-04
[Globes] AFI Development is down 6% in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.

The Moscow Stock Market fell at the opening today in response to the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine following last week's ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and fears of a Russian invasion of the country. The benchmark MICEX Index fell 9% at the opening today, the largest one-day drop since 2009. Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia has raised the interest rate by 150 basis points to 7%.

Leading European markets are down sharply by up to 2.5%.

AFI Development plc (LSE:AFID), the Russian development arm of Lev Leviev, has fallen 6% in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Psagot Investment House Ltd. chief economist Ori Greenfeld says, "The purpose of raising the Russian interest rate is to bring Russian money back home, support financial stability, and prevent a sharp devaluation of the ruble. As for the exchange rate, the measure has not been effective, and, at the moment, the ruble has weakened 1.5% against the euro and 1.7% against the dollar. Yields on ten-year Russian government bonds have risen 52 basis points since the beginning of the month.

"Anyone who does not own Russian stocks should (for the time being) stay calm. Stock markets in Europe, emerging markets, and Israel are falling, but so long as there is no war that will cause a global intervention, the heightened fears are probably only short term. The effect on the global economy is fairly low, as well as the effect on Israel, as Russia and Ukraine each account for just 0.3% of Israeli exports."

Most Asian markets fell today. Stock futures on Wall Street are falling 0.8-09%.
Russian economic vulnerability clearly visible only a few days into the conflict.

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