Israeli authorities forcibly evacuate Palestinian demonstrators?

Israel authorities late Thursday forcibly evacuated hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators from a recently created camp.

The actions Thursday night into Friday followed what the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, an activist group, described as an “Army siege” of their encampment in Ein Hijleh. Located in the central Jordan Valley not far from Jericho, Ein Hijleh was hatched a week ago by Palestinian activists on West Bank land that belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said authorities moved in — after having given ample warning to the demonstrators “to independently evacuate”– “due to rock hurling earlier this week at the main Jordan Valley route and other legal considerations.”

“The agitators were evacuated,” according to the military spokesman, by Israeli troops, border guard personnel and police.

Video of the raid aired on Palestinian TV showed hundreds of Israeli troops and police entering Ein Hijleh on foot.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian lawmaker who heads a medical relief group, said he saw bulldozers and other vehicles accompany the Israeli authorities into the camp using stun grenades and physically manhandling those inside, including women and children.

At least 24 people — including at least one with broken ribs — needed medical treatment for their injuries, Barghouti told CNN early Friday. The Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee later tweeted that 35 people were being cared for — some of them in intensive care — at a hospital in Jericho, which is about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Jerusalem.