News that the Middle East peace talks would be resuming in Washington next week touched off violence in the Gaza Strip, where at least one Arab was killed and at least 30 injured in clashes Wednesday with Israeli soldiers.
Stone-throwing riots broke out at the Nuseirat refugee camp, following the army’s installation of a new observation post. Angry residents demanded that the post be removed and, after the army refused, stoned the new lookout.
The army reacted by shooting live ammunition, killing Mohammad Abu-Shawish, 16, and wounding others. Similar clashes broke out in Khan Yunis and Gaza City, where a 17-year-old Palestinian, Wael Saed, reportedly died after being shot in the head.
The incidents came a day after the Reuters news agency filmed border police officers beating a 14-year-old Palestinian youth at the Shati refugee camp, near Gaza City, for no apparent reason.
The youth reportedly was on his way to work when he was ordered out of the car he was traveling in and immediately attacked by three border policemen, who slapped him in the face and kicked him.
A local free-lance photographer working for Reuters filmed the incident, and the footage was aired Tuesday around the world, including on Israel Television.
In reaction to the incident, the four border policemen were suspended and grounded.
In addition, the division for police investigation at the Justice Ministry launched an investigation into the matter.
Police Inspector-General Rafi Peled said he regarded the incident as very “grave,” but added that the behavior of the officers was a deviation from the normal practice of the border police.
As the general closure of the territories entered its fourth week, the government announced Wednesday it intended to grant Palestinians 8,000 more work permits allowing them into Israel next Tuesday, after Independence Day.
Five thousand construction workers and an additional 3,000 farm workers would be allowed in. The government has already been allowing in a few thousand farm workers in the past week. A proposal to recruit 1,000 foreign workers was rejected.
However, the added numbers are still a far cry from meeting the needs of Israeli employers and do not solve the mass unemployment problem in the territories. Before the closure, some 120,000 Palestinians from the territories had jobs in Israel proper. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, returning Wednesday from Poland, said the closure had justified itself beyond all expectations and that it would continue as long as Israel’s security needs make it necessary.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
