Violence, injuries, arrests, delays and prevention of medical treatment

In East Jerusalem on Tuesday, the fieldworkers of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel took initial testimony from local medical teams regarding the day's events. It seems that brutishness is becoming standard as security forces brace for clashes with residents in East Jerusalem. Their data is based on initial testimonies, some of which were taken via telephone as events occurred, and others given in person. PHR-Israel's staff continues to collect testimony on the events that took place in East Jerusalem, and will provide updates as more complete and accurate information is collected.

Following is a Summary of the information of the information that has been gathered so far.
In view of this testimony, PHR-Israel intends to examine:

1. Why injured persons were taken to detention facilities despite the fact that their medical condition required that they be taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

2. The nature of the security forces' rules for dispersing demonstrations and rules of engagement and the relationship between these instructions and the large number of injured persons, particularly those injured by beating and rubber-coated metal bullets fired at short range.

3. Why an ambulance carrying an injured man from Abu Dis was held at the checkpoint for fifteen minutes although the man was bleeding and required immediate transfer to the hospital, even without prior coordination.

4. Why members of the Yasam Special Patrol Unit prevented medical treatment from being administered on-site by local medical teams.

5. Why firefighting teams were not allowed to enter the Old City.

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Furthermore, throughout the day military and police vehicles blocked the routes leading to Moqassed Hospital. Emergency vehicles were subsequently forced to take alternative routes, doubling their travel time from the typical five to ten minutes, delaying transfer of injured persons to the hospital. The Red Crescent evacuated five injured persons to Alkhaldieh clinic located in the Old City, including three injured by tear gas fire, one hit in the chest by a rubber bullet and one suffering from trauma.

A female Old City resident of about 30 years of age lost consciousness after police forces entered her home, beat the house's residents and fired tear gas into the premises. The woman received first aid from paramedics from the Mount of Olives emergency services. She regained consciousness and was taken via Mount of Olives ambulance to Moqassed Hospital.

Hat tip to Reut at PHR-Israel for story above; the image below is one snapped near the Old City gates.

Oops. Mossad needs to drill, baby, drill

Espionage requires skullduggery, at least enough to avoid drawing the attention of casual passers-by. Certainly in Tel Aviv, urban pedestrians tend to be on the alert.
The BBC reports about how a blundering trainee spook managed to close down the entire port of Tel Aviv on a training day gone wrong.(This coincided with a tourist helicopter crashing downin the Med outside Netanya. What's surprising is how quickly the chaos was righted)

A trainee spy for Israel's secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say.

The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the capital.

He was only able to persuade police he was a spy after being taken in by an officer for questioning on Monday.

The authorities have refused to comment on the story although Israeli media outlets have expressed their surprise.

'Just a drill'

Mossad does not tell local uniformed police about its training exercises.

The country's commercial Channel 10 said it hoped the agent's operatives were "more effective abroad", AFP news agency reported.

Niva Ben-Harush, the woman who reported the novice's suspicious behaviour to police, told Ynet News that 15 minutes after she made the call, Tel Aviv's port was closed and people evacuated.

She said police initially asked her to come with them and identify the suspect.

"But after a few minutes, they told me it was just a drill," she said.

Up to three agency employees were believed to have been suspended following the incident, Ynet reported.

It quoted the prime minister's office as saying it did "not respond to information about such activities undertaken by security agencies or attributed to them".