Israeli troops open fire on Palestinians

NILIN  - Seven protesters and two soldiers were hurt on Thursday near the occupied West Bank village of Nilin in the latest of regular demonstration against Israel’s construction of a separation barrier, Palestinian medics said.
An AFP photographer witnessed soldiers open fire on demonstrators with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas as they tried to approach the construction site, some of them throwing stones.
All of the demonstrators hurt were hit by the bullets, while an officer and a border guard were hit by stones, the medics said.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops arrested five Palestinians and wounded three others in an operation in the southern West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian police and medics said.
An Israeli army spokesman said a patrol near Beit Ummar village, between Hebron and Bethlehem, had been attacked by several people, with one Molotov cocktail and several rocks thrown. He said eight people were arrested, adding that he had no knowledge of anyone being hurt.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon is “deeply concerned� about Israel’s plan to expand a settlement in the occupied West Bank and renews his call to the Jewish state to freeze all settlement activity, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the announcement today of the initial approval by the Ministry of Defence of 20 residential units in the Israeli military post of Maskiyot in the West Bank,â€� Michele Montas told a Press briefing. In a statement, she recalled that Ban had repeatedly stressed that “settlement construction or expansion is contrary to international law and Israel’s commitments under the roadmap and the Annapolis process. “ “The Secretary-General urges Israel to heed the call of the (Middle East peace) Quartet to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001,â€� she added.  “We are currently in the process of constructing 20 housing units in the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot,â€� a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Local authorities in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday published a tender for the construction, he said, but the move still requires the final go-ahead from Defence Minister Ehud Barak.