Palestinians protest against military demolitions in West Bank as Israelis vote

HEBRON, West Bank, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Israeli troops fired a stun grenade on Tuesday to disperse Palestinians who gathered to protest against an Israeli military operation that has displaced thousands of residents from a neighbourhood in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The unrest, which follows the deaths of two Israeli soldiers shot by Palestinian gunmen at a checkpoint last week, unfolded as Israelis were voting in an election in which the country’s posture in the West Bank has been a major political issue.

Some Palestinian officials have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of launching a crackdown in the West Bank to coincide with the vote, as a way to energise his right-wing supporters. The government says its operation is a response to the attack on its soldiers.

A group of Palestinian men, women, and children gathered at Tuesday’s protest. One elderly man held a placard that said: “No to collective punishment, no to closures, and no to displacement.”

The military said it had fired a stun grenade to disperse them so that its operation could continue.

On Monday, the United Nations said that over 3,000 Palestinians had been forced from their homes by the Israeli military operation, which targeted neighborhoods near the checkpoint where Palestinian gunmen killed the two Israeli soldiers on Friday.

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law,” said UN human rights chief Volker Türk in a statement. “Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.”

The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that troops would carry out demolitions in the area. It said soldiers had not located any weapons in searches of the houses.

Since Friday’s attack on the checkpoint, Israel has blocked the entrances to most Palestinian cities and towns across the West Bank, severely curtailing Palestinians’ freedom of movement.

Noura Nassar, a displaced resident who attended the protests, said she had struggled to get medical treatment because of the blockages.

“Where is the democracy in all of this? Their elections are today, sure, but what about us? Aren’t we human beings? We want to go out, we want to visit the doctor,” said Nassar.

Netanyahu and his main rival Gadi Eisenkot both oppose the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Residents expelled from the Hebron neighbourhood said Tuesday’s election in Israel would do little to change the reality on the ground in territories Israel has occupied since 1967.

“Among themselves they will elect who is the oppressor and who will destroy the Palestinian people. That is their election,” said Sana’ Salman Abu Sneineh, another expelled resident.

Netanyahu’s government has presided over a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, which are deemed illegal by UN bodies and ​most countries, though ⁠Israel disputes this. Under Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition there has also been a surge of militant settler violence against Palestinians.

(Reporting by Pesha MagidEditing by Peter Graff)