Israeli policeman assaults Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem + Video

A new video released on the Internet shows an Israeli policeman violently assaulting and injuring several Palestinians in East Jerusalem al-Quds, amid heightening tensions between Israeli forces and Palestinians.

The incident, filmed by a witness and published on the video-sharing website, YouTube, took place in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds on Thursday morning.

The video shows an Israeli police officer, dressed in plainclothes with a pistol on his belt, verbally arguing with a Palestinian truck driver after the latter allegedly hit the officer’s parked car.

The policeman then proceeds to headbutt, slap, punch, kick, and knee the truck driver in the lower abdomen over the course of less than a minute.

Ahmad al-Tawil, a 26 year-old Jerusalem al-Quds resident who witnessed the scene, was quoted by Ma'an news agency as saying that he tried to intervene once the Israeli officer began assaulting the truck driver, but the policeman also hit him several times in the head and stomach. Tawil sustained injuries in the eye.

The video then goes on to show two other police officers aiding their colleague in the assault.

Afterwards, the first officer violently kicks the Palestinian truck driver in the back as he attempts to get on his vehicle.

The development has been construed as new evidence to long-known fact that Israeli military forces regularly abuse their position of power to verbally and physically humiliate and assault Palestinians in the occupied lands.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem al-Quds routinely report mistreatment by Israeli forces, detention of youths without any evidence of wrongdoing, and physical assault in the process.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed tensions ever since Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

At least, 283 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October that year.  

Israeli naval forces detain two Gaza fishermen

In another development, Israeli naval forces have detained two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip in yet another act of aggression against the besieged coastal territory.

Gaza naval police said in statement that Israeli forces arrested Khader al-Saadi and Rajab Abu Mayala, both residents of al-Shati refugee camp, as they were sailing in waters off Gaza City.

The statement added that Israeli forces also confiscated the fishermen’s boats and their equipment.

Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, half of whom live below the poverty line.

Under a ceasefire agreement reached between Israelis and Palestinians following a deadly 50-day Israeli war in August 2014, Tel Aviv agreed to allow Palestinian fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off Gaza’s coast.

The agreement also stipulated that Israel would expand the area gradually up to 12 miles.

Palestinian fishermen, however, say the Israeli navy opens fire on them before they reach the agreed limit.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

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