Five Palestinians were killed and at least 14 wounded as violence flared anew in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend. It spread to East Jerusalem and Arab towns in Israel, but no casualties were reported there.
An Arab was killed Sunday during a riot at Deir Amar village, near Ramallah. Two others were killed Sunday as riots rocked Nablus, the largest Arab town in the West Bank. Three Arabs were wounded Sunday in rioting in Khan Yunis, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. Eleven were wounded Saturday in the West Bank.
Military sources said the circumstances of the Deir Amar killing were unclear. There were no Israel Defense Force soldiers or other security forces in the vicinity at the time, the sources said, indicating the fatal shot might have been fired by Jewish settlers surrounded by rock-throwers.
The two deaths in Nablus occurred as a result of attacks on IDF soldiers, according to a military spokesman. One Arab was shot after he stabbed a soldier, by the soldier’s companion. The other was gunned down when he tried to run over a soldier with the vehicle he was driving.
Earlier Sunday, police and troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds rioting in Ramallah, where a 20-year-old Palestinian youth was fatally wounded Saturday in a skirmish with border police. The police said one of their patrol fired his rifle accidentally when he stumbled while trying to evade stone-throwers.
12-YEAR-OLD FATALITY
The IDF is investigating the death of a 12-year-old Arab boy fatally shot at the Tulkarm refugee camp Saturday. A 16-year-old youth was wounded in the same incident. Local residents claimed IDF troops fired at them because they were outside their homes during a curfew.
The Palestine Liberation Organization is distributing leaflets in the territories and in Israel exhorting Palestinians to escalate disturbances before the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, who is due in Israel on Thursday.
“Communique No. 8” was circulated over the weekend urging Palestinians to stage protest marches after prayers at churches and mosques, mass violations of curfews, a hunger strike and a sit-down strike at Red Cross offices and to pay solidarity visits to the families of Palestinians killed or wounded by the IDF.
The communique, signed by the “United National Command of the Uprising,” also asked for donations to the needy through “national institutions.”
In Hebron, troops forcibly removed hundreds of slogan-chanting Arabs who tried to spread prayer mats in the Machpela Cave — the tomb of the Patriarchs — while Orthodox Jews were holding Friday night prayers there.
Two gasoline bombs were thrown Saturday night at the American Consulate in East Jerusalem, causing no casualties. An awning in the consulate compound was burned. Gasoline bombs were thrown at the police station in Umm el-Fahm village in Israel and at a Jewish-owned department store in Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
