BETHLEHEM, December 23, 2014 (WAFA) – Israeli army Tuesday quelled a peaceful protest organized by Palestinian activists on the occasion of Christmas near the city of Bethlehem, according to local sources.

Local activists were holding a peaceful protest and distributing Christmas gifts to children at the entrance of the city when soldiers, stationed at a checkpoint, quelled them by firing teargas canisters. There were reports of suffocation cases by teargas inhalation.

According to B'Tselem , an Israeli human rights group, “Israeli soldiers and Border Police often fire tear-gas grenades directly at demonstrators with the aim of hitting them, or fire carelessly, without ensuring that demonstrators are not in the direct line of fire, in direct contravention of regulations.”

B’Tselem, in a summary report published in 2013, demanded that Israeli security forces “completely prohibit the firing of 40mm tear-gas canisters either directly at individuals or horizontally, in a way that could cause result in injuries.”

A report titled, ‘Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank,’ described mounting bloodshed and human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) as a result of the Israeli forces’ use of unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force against Palestinians since January 2011, reported Amnesty International.

The newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Right, Zeid al-Hussein, recently urged Israel to take steps to halt this “continuous stream of fatal incidents” and to launch a quick and “utterly transparent” investigation into the matter.

Zeid’s call came days after the death of Palestinian Minister Ziad Abu Ein following clashes with Israeli troops on December 10 during a protest against Israeli settlements in the village of Turmus-Ayya, to the north of Ramallah.

M.N/M.H