Palestinians stage clash for Kerry visit. Two Israeli soldiers, many Palestinians injured

Two Israeli soldiers and at least 19 Palestinians were injured Friday in a clash at Bitunya near the IDF’s Ofer Camp on the West Bank-Israel border. It was staged by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas as a spectacle of violent unrest to greet US Secretary of State John Kerry when he arrives for a visit next week. The soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters when a rock-throwing Palestinian mob hemmed them in at their Bitunya roadblock.