East Jerusalem woman injured by foam-tipped bullet

An East Jerusalem woman was injured in the face last month by a foam-tipped bullet fired by police who came to arrest her sister-in-law, Haaretz reported Thursday. Rova Odah, 23, suffered a broken jaw and damage to her teeth from the bullet, which is considered a nonlethal method of crowd dispersal, the report said.

According to police, officers were pelted with stones from the roofs of houses and in return fired three foam-tipped bullets at demonstrators, including Odah.

Border Police entered the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem on February 27 to arrest Amani Odah, 26, a dentist who was accused of distributing inflammatory posters. According to eyewitnesses quoted by Haaretz, the arrival of police sparked a commotion but, disputing the police account, they say no one was throwing stones.

The noise reportedly brought Rova Odah, Amani Odah’s sister-in-law, out onto a third-floor balcony. Odah said she noticed a red laser pointer aimed at her, and then was hit in the cheek.

Her family rushed her to the Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, whence she was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem for further treatment. Due to her injuries, she has been experiencing difficulties eating, the report said.

Amani Odah, the alleged inciter who was the target of the police raid, was released later that day after being questioned. She maintains that her arrest was a case of mistaken identity. Her mobile phone and computer, which were seized in the raid, were returned to her earlier this week, the report said.

In January the Israeli human rights watchdog B’Tzelem released a report condemning the use of nonlethal bullets for crowd control. According to the report, since 2005, 10 Palestinians have been killed by supposedly nonlethal crowd control methods.