Israel says Palestinian car-ramming wounds paramilitary
Israeli police say a Palestinian driver struck and moderately wounded a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police at a major checkpoint north of Jerusalem overnight
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Palestinian driver struck and moderately wounded a member of Israel's paramilitary Border Police at a major checkpoint north of Jerusalem overnight, the police said Thursday.
They said officers fired on the vehicle, causing it to crash into a wall, and arrested the suspect, a 22-year-old from the town of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank The police said it was a car-ramming attack.
The Border Police had been removing unauthorized structures near the Qalandia checkpoint, on the main road between the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered, and Jerusalem.
Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks in recent years, but Palestinians and rights groups say some of the alleged car-rammings were accidents and accuse Israel of using excessive force.
In a separate incident, a Jewish settler attacked an Israeli military officer and a soldier with pepper spray near a settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the latest in a series of recent attacks by settlers on Israeli security forces and Palestinians.
The military said the two soldiers received medical treatment at the scene, without elaborating. It declined to say whether anyone was arrested in the attack, referring questions to police, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hard-line settlers have clashed with Israeli troops and vandalized Palestinian property in recent days in what are known as “price-tag" attacks in response to perceived efforts by Israeli authorities to restrict settlement expansion.
Late last month, dozens of stone-throwing Jewish settlers attacked a small Palestinian village in the West Bank, damaging homes and vehicles and wounding a four-year-old boy. Video footage showed Israeli soldiers standing among the settlers, apparently doing nothing to stop them.
Most of the nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank live in authorized settlements that resemble small towns and suburbs, but more radical settlers have set up dozens of outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law. The Palestinians and most of the international community view all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to a two-state solution to the conflict.
Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, the military chief of staff, condemned the recent settler attacks, saying “criminal behavior against IDF soldiers on the part of civilians is intolerable and requires quick enforcement to the full extent of the law.”
The more than 2.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority having limited autonomy in cities and towns. The settlers have Israeli citizenship and are subject to Israel's civilian justice system.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.