Roundup: West Bank clashes flare as Gaza militants calling "new uprising"

Clashes between Palestinian people and the Israeli army flared in the West Bank on Monday with several Palestinians injured after a 13-year-old boy was killed near the city of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Mohamed Awad, director of emergency in the city, said in a press statement that five Palestinians were injured in the clashes with the Israeli soldiers at the northern entrance to Bethlehem, adding that one of the injured was in serious condition and all of them were moved to Beit Jala Hospital.

Fierce clashes broke out in Bethlehem after an Israeli soldier shot dead 13-year-old boy Abdul Rahman Obeidallah. Dozens of Palestinians threw stones at the Israeli soldiers, who fired back using live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them.

Israeli Radio quoted Israeli army sources as saying that Palestinian demonstrators hurled three makeshift grenades at the Israeli soldiers stationed at Rachael Dome settlement north of Bethlehem, adding that the soldiers fired back and wounded several demonstrators.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, medical sources said that eight Palestinians were injured by live ammunition and rubber bullets and two young men were detained during clashes broke out between dozens of schoolchildren and Israeli soldiers around the city and its suburbs.

In the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, hundreds of Palestinian mourners buried the body of a 19-year-old Palestinian young man, who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers' gunfire during clashes on Sunday night in the city. They chanted slogans of revenge against Israel.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said that Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse dozens of Palestinian demonstrators, who threw stones at Israeli soldiers in the old city of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Medical Palestinian sources said six were injured and dozens inhaled tear gas and were treated in the place.

The clashes between Israel and the Palestinians flared following the Israeli measures against worshipers at al-Aqsa mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem. Two Palestinians and two Israelis were killed in two separate stabbing attacks on Saturday and Sunday.

Clashes began to mount following the speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, where he warned Israel that his authority won't be committed to the signed agreement as long as Israel keeps breaching them.

The current wave of tension and clashes between Israel and the Palestinians had left four Palestinians and four Israelis killed so far in the past five days.

Various militant groups in the Gaza Strip considered the clashes that are taking place in the West bank as "a new Intifada, or "uprising" against Israel. They called on President Mahmoud Abbas to sever security ties with Israel.

"We call on Abbas to stop security coordination with Israel and we call on our people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to unify their efforts and escalate the new Intifada in the West Bank," said Abu Mujahid, spokesman of the Gaza-based pro-Hamas Popular Resistance Committees.

Mohamed al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said recently in an emailed press statement that a new Intifada had started against the Israeli occupation, and all the attempts to stop it will fail.

In Gaza, Ahmed Bahar, a senior Hamas leader and deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament, said in an emailed press statement that "the Israeli occupation will pay a heavy price for its crimes against the Palestinian people and their holy sites in both Jerusalem and the West Bank."

"Preventing worshipers from praying at al-Aqsa mosque and opening fire at our people and killing them in cold blood are all condemned measures that give our people the right for self-defense, including the armed struggle against the military occupation," said Bahar.

Saraya al-Quds, or the "Battalions of Jerusalem," the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement, published on Monday a short trailer showing its militants preparing for suicide attacks in Israel.

The one-minute long video showed a militant of the group is preparing an explosive belt. The footage is mixed with images of Israeli police pushing and beating women in Jerusalem's Old City and at al-Aqsa mosque compound. Endit