Palestinian woman throws acid on soldier at Hawara checkpoint
Nablus woman trying to cross into Israel hurls acidic substance at soldier's
face, escapes. Soldier taken to hospital in mild condition
Efrat Weiss YNET Published: 09.10.08, 12:07 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3594697,00.html

An Israel Defense Forces soldier stationed at the Hawara checkpoint, south
of the West Bank city of Nablus, sustained mild facial injuries on
Wednesday, after a Palestinian woman poured an acidic substance in his face.

The soldier was taken to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva for
treatment.

The woman arrived at the Hawara checkpoint and attempted to cross into
Israel using the humanitarian aid lane, which is meant for emergencies and
therefore has no security checks. Upon approaching the soldier manning the
lane, she threw the acid at his face and then ran back towards Nablus.

IDF forces are exercise lenience in all checkpoints, as part of the
military's efforts to ease the Palestinian population's suffering during the
month of Ramadan. Military sources said Wednesday that is was unfortunate
that the Palestinians were making cynical use of the IDF's attempts to
relieve the situation.

Hawara checkpoint has been the scene of many arrests in which Palestinians
were apprehended trying to smuggle weapons and explosives into Israel.

The past two months have seen a 16-year-old boy arrested with two pipe bombs
and a knife, and an 18-year old Palestinian arrested after a search of his
person yielded six pipe bombs, a rifle magazine and gun powder.