1 soldier, 4 Palestinians injured in West Bank protests
Demonstrations across West Bank come amid soaring tensions following release of US peace plan last month
One Israeli soldier was lightly injured by a stone and four Palestinians were hurt in a protest in the West Bank village of Budrus on Friday.
The soldier was treated at the scene northwest of Ramallah and then sent to a hospital, according to Hebrew media reports.
The condition of the Palestinians was not immediately clear.
Protests were also reported in Ramallah, Nablus and near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Troops fired tear gas at Palestinians who threw rocks and set tires on fire.
Tensions have soared in the West Bank since the release of a US peace plan on January 28 that Palestinians reject as biased in favor of Israel.
Last Friday, two border guards were lightly hurt, while a Palestinian teenager was reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops and dozens more wounded in widespread clashes in the West Bank.
Earlier this month Israel saw a string of attacks on Israel Defense Forces soldiers and police officers, leaving 14 service members wounded.
Two members of the Palestinian security services were also killed, at least one of whom was apparently mistaken for a terrorist by an Israeli sniper.
Palestinian leaders said the violence was an inevitable result of the plan’s pro-Israel bias, while Israeli officials accused the Palestinian Authority of encouraging the attacks.
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the architect of the US peace plan for the Middle East, blamed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the spike in West Bank violence.
