Instead of an inquiring foreigner, Ibrahim found himself facing an Israeli settler pointing a handgun at him and his friends. The settler opened fire on the boys, shooting one boy, also 16, in the leg before shooting Ibrahim in the back, then shooting the first boy again as he lay on the ground. Then he sped away.

“We all started running away when he started shooting, and I didn’t even know that I had been shot,” said Ibrahim in an interview at his home two months after the incident, “It was only after we stopped and my friends checked me to see if I was hurt that I realized the settler had shot me in my lower back.”

Ibrahim and the other injured boy, Moataz, were taken to the camp’s only clinic but found it closed, so they were taken to Al-Ahali Hospital in Hebron. Ibrahim recalled that he lost consciousness just before entering the hospital, afraid he was going to lose his life to a settler clearly intent on killing innocent teenagers.

Getting shot, however, was not the end of Ibrahim’s nightmare.

After undergoing surgery at Al-Ahali Hospital, Ibrahim was taken to an Israeli police station in nearby settlement, Kiryat Arba. At the station, Ibrahim was told that the settler had turned himself in but claimed that he had fired his weapon in response to the boys throwing stones at cars on the road – a claim that is hard to believe even to someone who was not at the scene, as the boys were waiting right next to an Israeli guard tower. Nonetheless, the Israeli police threatened to arrest Ibrahim when he refused to admit that he and his friends had thrown any stones. The Israeli investigator told him that their cameras at the entrance to Aroub would prove who was guilty.

After several hours at the police station, a different investigator finally proposed a “compromise” telling Ibrahim and his father that they could admit to wrongdoing, pay 1,500 shekels and be allowed to leave. Fearing for his son’s health, Ibrahim’s father was pressured into paying the money and taking his son back to the hospital.

In a bizarre change of face, Israeli authorities later called the families of Ibrahim and Moataz offering to have them transported to Israeli hospitals. Ibrahim believes this was because the police had seen in the camera footage that they had never thrown any stones and did not deserve to be fined or arrested, let alone shot. The boys were not transferred, as the Palestinian doctors advised against it, believing their condition to be too serious to undergo such a move.

What happened to the murderous settler? He had his gun taken away and was placed in temporary house arrest. In the Israeli justice system, trying to kill Palestinians gets you put in time-out.

Imagine that the situation was reversed; if the gunman was a Palestinian firing on a group of settler teenagers. Sadly, it is not at all unreasonable to predict that the Palestinian would be jailed for years (if not shot and killed by retaliating settlers), his village or town would most likely be invaded by Israeli military forces, and other Palestinians who were not at all involved in the incident would be injured or killed in resulting clashes. This is the reality.

Ibrahim was released from the hospital eight days later. Moataz was hospitalized for a month and continues to return for weekly medical checks.

Although Ibrahim’s pain has subsided significantly, the memory of the incident has not. He still finds it hard to sleep at night and is not convinced that this story is over for him. He continues to carry the fear of arrest with him every day, unconvinced that even proven innocence is not enough to escape the lunatic behavior of the Israeli police.

There are two permanent Israeli military posts in the immediate area, one tower next to the entrance of the refugee camp and one tower just less than 25 yards from where the shooting took place. Still, the settler fled the scene and the two teens were transported by private car to a hospital in Hebron where at least one is reportedly in critical condition.

International solidarity activists and the media coordinator of the Palestine Solidarity Project arrived to take testimonies from witnesses. When they were photographing the car that had transported the two injured, Israeli soldiers who had gathered near the entrance to the refugee camp began insisting that they leave, first by pushing them to cross the highway towards the entrance of the university. Rather than attempting to apprehend the gun-wielding settler, the civilian police then grabbed one of the international activists, handcuffed him, and put him in a police van. The police asked him what he was doing here, to which he replied that he would not give any information until he knew why he was arrested.

He was then released and the remaining activists were allowed to continue gathering information, though there was no sign that the soldiers or civilian police had any interest in investigating the brutal assault on unarmed civilians.

These assaults come in the midst of rising tension around Israel and right-wing demonstrations, including settlers in the Arroub Refugee Camp area, supporting the Israeli forces in their assault on the Gaza aid flotilla. Two days ago settlers from Gush Etzion held a small demonstration, accompanied by a large police and military presence, just north of Arroub on Route 60 holding flags representing the Israeli military and harassing passing Palestinian vehicles. It is clear that if Israel will not be held accountable for the deaths of at least 9 international activists, the likelihood that an Israeli citizen who has maimed 2 Palestinian youth would be held to account is nil.

That was, until the night of Tuesday 4th May when fire gutted the mosque’s interior, destroying carpets, furniture, numerous Korans and the building’s fixtures and fittings. The visitor now witnesses a scene of total devastation. The blackened walls, floor and ceiling have a nighmarish quality and it is hard to imagine that this was once a beautiful, light-filled and serene place of worship. Local children have attempted to assert their defiance by scrawling such slogans as “Allah Akbar” onto the blackened tiles on the walls.

An Israeli Occupation spokesperson has suggested that the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault, a suggestion described as “a joke” by villagers. Situated as it is, close by the Jewish colony/settlements of Shilo, Male Livona and Bet El, Al Libban has long been the target of settler aggression and violence. Another mosque, in nearby Huwwara, has been vandalised in recent weeks, suggesting an emerging pattern of targeting mosques for desecration.

The cost of repairing and renovating the gutted building has been put at 500,000 shekels an enormous sum for such an impoverished community. Nevertheless, the villagers are determined to regain their mosque as a functioning place of worship, just as they are determined not to be driven from their homes and their lands by Israel’s policy – and practice – of ethnic cleansing.

No reason can be found that might have provoked the settler into shooting young Sa’ed.

No warning was given that the guard was about to open fire. The wound could have been lethal if the bullet had struck a couple of feet higher but Sa’ed was lucky. Once the painkillers wear off Sa’ed will be in agony for days but, even if he doesn’t understand today why he was shot, he wont forget it was a resident of a settlement, built on land that would have belonged to him.

In Nabi Saleh, which has been demonstrating for several weeks against a move by settlers from the nearby Halamish settlement to take over a a spring and other privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land, several dozen residents, along with Israeli and international solidarity activists, again marched from the village towards the land being annexed by the right-wing settlers. They were confronted by Israeli forces, who used tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets to deter the crowd. The army then invaded the village, using a jeep-mounted tear-gas launcher that shoots 30 canisters of gas at a time, into the built-up area of the village, affecting everyone in their homes. A young man was taken to the hospital with a moderate injury when he was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet.

In Ni’lin, several dozen residents continued their weekly protest against the construction of the Annexation Barrier through their agricultural lands. Participants marched from the edge of the village into the olive groves, approaching the combined fence-wall. They were forced back by the Israeli military, who used large amounts of tear gas, including firing the tear gas at houses, affecting people not participating in the demonstration.

Hundreds of residents in Asira Al-Qyblia marched against land confiscation towards Ytzhar settlement, home to some of the most violent settlers in the entire Occupied Territories who have repeatedly destroyed trees belonging to Asira Al-Qyblia residents, and attacked the village and others in the surrounding Nablus District. The march was fired on by the Israeli military with tear gas and sound grenades, though no one was seriously injured.

In Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, 80 Jewish demonstrators, many dressed in costumes for the coming Purim holiday, joined over 100 Palestinians near the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes and the implantation of right-wing Jewish settlers. A festive demonstration, with chants, drumming, and songs, was held for over an hour as Israeli police and military border police sealed off the street to demonstrators.

Though this demonstration ended without confrontation or violence, it came in the wake of a riot Wednesday night, when dozens of settlers entered the partially occupied Al-Kurd family home to begin preparation for the celebration of Purim, a Jewish holiday held Sunday, February 28, which traditionally includes drinking large amounts of alcohol, making it one of the most dreaded Jewish holidays for Palestinians, who often come under attack by intoxicated settlers on this day.
Sure enough, the settlers in Sheikh Jarrah began attacking the Palestinian residents of the same home. Israeli soldiers arrived and attempted to restrain the crowd but were unsuccessful and soon turned on the growing Palestinian, international, and anti-occupation Jews in the crowd, clubbing and pepper spraying them. Several were injured before the Israeli police escorted the settlers out of the area. One Palestinian man was arrested early in the evening; none of the settlers were detained.

Lawyers with Rabbis for Human Rights, who also supported and participated in the re-planting Saffa campaign investigated the issue and found that the Israeli government claimed it had declared the land “state land” in the 1970’s, and the Palestinian owners, who have documentation dating back to the Ottoman period showing ownership of this land, did not respond when they were informed of the confiscation 30+ years ago. The land now belongs to 4 brothers from the ‘Adi family. Their older relatives clearly state that they had never been told the land was intended to be confiscated, and had been working on it without problems ever since. The Israeli military is required to give notice to farmers if their land is to be taken and given a chance to respond in Israeli courts. While the order to uproot the trees now is based on the “fact” that the land was declared Israeli state land over 30 years ago, without proper notification at that time the confiscation is not valid.

The land, which is located on the hillside next to the built-up Palestinian area in Saffa, was seriously damaged by 2 fires started by settlers last summer. More than one hundred trees were planted in the area 2 weeks ago to replace what was damaged due to the fire. It is these trees, bought with funding by private donors, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Gush Shalom, that the Israeli military is now threatening to uproot. Clearly, the Israeli military, after ignoring Palestinian use of what they deemed Israeli state land for over 30 years, are now trying to punish the farmers of Beit Ommar and Saffa for their work in this area for the past 9 months.

Additionally, by “re-declaring” this area as Israeli state land, the Israeli military seems to be setting the stage for the eventual theft of the entire agricultural land between Saffa/Beit Ommar and the right-wing settlement Bat ‘Ayn, which has been trying to expand onto this land for years. Indeed, the only land now between what has been declared “Israeli” and Bat ‘Ayn itself is the land of Abu Jabber Soleiby, who has come under frequent attack and the victim of property destruction by settlers of Bat ‘Ayn for years. Bat ‘Ayn has also been fighting in Israeli civilian courts to take this land, but has thus far been unsuccessful. However, due to their increased violence beginning in April, 2009, the Israeli military has been declaring the entire valley a closed military zone, preventing farmers from adequately accessing the land. Prolonged declarations of ‘closed military zones’ are often precursors to confiscations, a fact the settlers of Bat ‘Ayn surely know and which they hope to capitalize on in order to expand.

Israeli soldiers, who are in charge of “security” for the area, were nearby in both Bat ‘Ayn and in Saffa. Their solution to the settler violence: prevent the Palestinians in Saffa from entering or leaving the area freely. No one was seriously injured in the incident today.

In Al-Ma’asara a large group of Palestinians, along with international and Israeli solidarity activists again marched from the center of the village to the edge of town, where they were stopped by the Israeli military. The military vowed to end the demonstrations in Al-Ma’asara in 2010, which began in early 2007. In recent weeks they have intensified their presence and began using “crowd-dispersal” weapons, which had not been used since the very early days of the demonstrations, when they were held on the site of the Annexation Barrier construction. This week, sound grenades were thrown into the crowd, forcing the demonstrators to move back. They were then pursued into the village a few dozen meters, before the Israeli soldiers finally left.

Over 300 people marched from West Jerusalem to Sheikh Jarrah again this week. On the way through the Jewish sections of the city, they were met with a wide range of response, from honks and cheers, to people aiming imaginary guns at them and shooting. In Sheikh Jarrah the police were more withdrawn, content to blocking off the street rather than the incredible violence and mass arrests that have met the demonstrations in recent weeks.

The Israeli military confirmed there was a “confrontation” and that the settler guard shot a Palestinian. They said they were investigating, though the settler was not arrested.

This comes one week after settlers from Bat ‘Ayn shot at residents of Saffa, on the other side of the settlement, though no one in that incident was injured.

The Palestine Solidarity Project, along with Israeli activists, still plans to accompany farmers from Beit Ommar as they replant trees in an area that was destroyed by Bat ‘Ayn settlers and will not be deterred.