Trouble erupted anew in the West Bank on Monday in reaction to the fatal shooting of a Palestinian woman by Israeli security forces and deportation orders issued against nine Palestinian activists.
Soldiers used tear gas to break up a violent demonstration in the Al-Ram neighborhood, north of Jerusalem, where the shooting occurred. Unrest spread to the nearby Kalandriya refugee camp, Bir Zeit and Ramallah in the West Bank.
The Tulkarem refugee camp was placed under curfew after demonstrations. Arab shops and businesses were closed in most West Bank towns. The commercial strikes spread to East Jerusalem, but shops there began to reopen Monday.
The Israel Defense Force, meanwhile, is investigating the death of Haniye El-Zarawneh, 25, during a clash near Al-Ram on Sunday between the IDF and Palestinian youths.
According to eyewitness accounts, about 20 Arab youngsters wearing veils or masks stoned Israeli vehicles at an intersection of the Jerusalem-Ramallah highway. A small IDF unit chased them into the Al-Ram neighborhood. One soldier pursued a 14-year-old Arab boy into the courtyard of the Zarawnch family home while firing into the air.
The soldier seized the boy, eyewitnesses said, but continued to fire his weapon, hitting the Zarawneh woman, who was hanging laundry on a roof.
Gen. Amram Mitzna, commander of the IDF central sector, visited the scene and ordered the soldier involved and his commanding officer detained, pending completion of an investigation. Military sources said it appeared that the soldier acted contrary to regulations and that the force sent into the neighborhood was too small to cope with the situation.
The deportation orders issued Sunday against five West Bank Palestinians and four from the Gaza Strip were another element contributing to the renewed disturbances.
The deportations were not unexpected. Israel had made clear since the beginning of the recent wave of disturbances on Dec. 9 that it had the option to expel troublemakers from the administered territories.
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