Rioting in Nablus, East Jerusalem Leaves Two Dead, 16 Wounded

At least two Palestinians were killed and 16 wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces in Nablus Thursday.

Rioting also erupted in East Jerusalem for the third successive day. One policeman was injured and extensive damage was done to Jewish and Arab property.

The outburst in Nablus, the largest Arab town in the West Bank, was triggered by a violent demonstration in the casbah marketplace.

Israel Defense Force soldiers opened fire to disperse the crow, killing two. The dead were identified as Maher Abu Ghazaleh, 23 and Hussan Abdel Aziz, 18.

Late news reports indicated a third Palestinian was killed in Tulkarm, but the person has not yet been identified.

The disturbances in East Jerusalem and environs began Tuesday night and continued into Thursday. Scores of Arab youths rampaged through the streets, overturning garbage cans.

Roadblocks were set up on Saladin Street, East Jerusalem’s main commercial artery, as rioting spread to the Jerusalem suburbs of Silwan, Wadi Joz and Jabel Mukaber.

Rioters smashed windows in the Jewish neighborhood of East Talpiyot that abuts Jabel Mukaber. They also ranged through the streets behind the Rockefeller Museum, which is in East Jerusalem across the way from the Old City.

Many Arab and Jewish buses and cars were damaged.

The eruptions in East Jerusalem began Tuesday following the funeral of 16-year-old Nidal Rabaddi, a Christian Arab who lived in the Old City’s Christian Quarter and attended Freres College there.

He was found shot to death earlier Tuesday in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, where he had gone to study with friends for final examinations.

There were no clues and neither the IDF nor the police were involved in shooting incidents in Beit Hanina. There was no evidence to implicate Israeli civilians.

Coincidental with the youth’s death was the end of the school term, which helped contribute to the rioting.