March 5, 2012

A Palestinian student was in critical condition on Monday after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister when Israeli troops attacked a protest near Ramallah, medics said.

Medics at Ramallah's main hospital confirmed that 20-year-old Mohammed Abu Awad was in intensive care after an Israeli soldier shot a tear gas canister at his head.

Palestinian security sources said the student had been injured as Israeli troops attacked a peaceful rally in support of a hunger-striking female prisoner near the Atara checkpoint, five kilometers north of Ramallah.

They initially said he had been hit in the head by a bullet during the protest, which was attended by about 40 people.

The Israeli military claimed the protest has been a "violent and illegal riot" near Birzeit.

"Palestinian demonstrators threw rocks at an IDF (army) post. Soldiers responded with riot dispersal means," a spokeswoman said.

Israeli troops are regularly accused of deliberately firing tear gas canisters at close range, directed at the heads of protesters to cause maximum damage.

Mustafa Tamimi, 28, died of his wounds when an Israeli soldier shot a tear gas canister at his face at a peaceful rally in Nabi Saleh in December 2011.

An American Jewish student, Emily Henochowicz, 22, lost an eye at a similar West Bank protest in 2010, again after an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister at her face from close range.

No Israeli soldier or officer was reprimanded after either incident.

The students were demonstrating in solidarity with Hanaa al-Shalabi, a prisoner who has been on hunger strike since February 16 to protest against being held by Israel without charge, a procedure known as administrative detention.

An Israeli court on Sunday cut her detention from six months to four, but officials from the Palestinian prisoners ministry said she was continuing to refuse food.

Israel's administrative detention has come under attack in recent weeks, with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch slamming it as a violation of international law.

The policy came to light after Khader Adnan had undergone a hunger strike for 66 days to protest his imprisonment.

Administrative detention allows Israel to jail Palestinians without charge or trial for a period of up to six months, merely on suspicion of being a threat to the Israeli state.

The detention period can be renewed, effectively allowing Israel to hold Palestinians indefinitely, and detainees are not informed of the crimes they are suspected of committing.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and continues to expand illegal Jewish settlements in defiance of international law, and to the detriment of indigenous Palestinians.

(Al-Akhbar, AFP)