Palestinian students of Birzeit University clash with Israeli soldiers

Several Palestinians suffered from severe tear gas inhalation when clashes broke out with Israeli forces Wednesday afternoon, as students of Birzeit University staged a protest against the detention of at least six fellow students by Israeli forces on Tuesday evening.

Witnesses told Ma’an that students rallied from the Birzeit University campus northeast of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank to the Israeli military checkpoint of Beit El some five kilometers away.
Palestinian security services tried to prevent the students from approaching the checkpoint, but students ignored their instructions and continued to march until they clashed with Israeli troops.
The students hurled stones at Israeli soldiers stationed near the checkpoint, and soldiers responded by firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.
Several students and passersby were treated for excessive tear gas inhalation at the scene.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an they were looking into the case.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli forces detained six Palestinian students Birzeit University, including three women, at a protest in near Israel’s Ofer detention center south of Ramallah held in solidarity with hunger-striking prisoners Muhammad al-Qiq, a former head of the student council at the university, and Jamal Abu al-Leil from the nearby Qalandiya refugee camp.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said the six were “caught red-handed” throwing stones at Israeli troops.
Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli military jeeps chased the students and assaulted them before they were apprehended.
The three women were identified by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society as Bayan Safi, Zeinab Barghouthi, and Miran Daghra, who were taken to Israel’s HaSharon prison. Locals identified two of the young men who were detained as Ahmad Khader and Hassan Daraghma.