Israelis Kill Palestine Protester 11 Others Wounded When Rally Against Settlement Turns Violent
Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian and wounded 11 others Sunday when a protest against the expansion of this Jewish settlement turned into a violent clash.
It was the deadliest incident since Israeli and Palestinian forces fought gunbattles across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in late September, and it underscored simmering tensions over the Israeli government’s approval of construction to enlarge Jewish settlements.
About 200 Palestinians marched from the village of Deir Qadis near Ramallah to protest the expansion of Qiryat Sefer, a town of ultra-Orthodox Jews, into land the villagers say is theirs.
As Israeli bulldozers rumbled across rocky hills near the village, the demonstrators marched to the area, carrying signs and chanting slogans. One group shouted: “Clinton, listen! Stop the bulldozers!”
A group of Israeli soldiers tried unsuccessfully to block the demonstrators, and the confrontation quickly turned violent.
“The soldiers told us to go back, but we wouldn’t,” said Sami Aboushi of Deir Qaddis. “They tried to push us back, then they fired tear-gas, then they fired bullets. One person was hit in the head, one in the throat, one in the chest. People were hit in the arms, legs, everywhere.”
An Israeli army spokesman said the protesters had hurled stones at the soldiers, who tried at first to disperse the crowd with tear gas, rubber bullets and gunshots in the air. “When they felt that their lives were in danger, they were compelled to shoot in order to break up the riot,” the statement said.
Atallah Amireh, 36, was killed, and was later buried in his village of Naalin in a funeral led by Palestinian police officers.
In Hebron on Sunday, the Israeli authorities detained without trial a Jewish militant in the first of what security officials say will be a series of arrests and restriction orders to prevent violence during an expected handover of most of the city to Palestinian rule. Jewish settlers in Hebron have vowed to block the withdrawal of Israeli troops, but little progress was reported last week in negotiations on the pullback.
Noam Federman, a member of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach party founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, was ordered jailed without charges for two months. He told reporters that police officers had broken into his house and searched it, confiscating a sticker that described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, as a “dangerous” pair.
Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani told the conservative newspaper Maariv that between 20 to 30 militant Jewish settlers would be rounded up before the transfer of authority in Hebron.