Clashes between Palestinians and Israelis broke out Friday after several thousand people from both sides buried their dead and called for revenge, reported AFP.
Israeli troops at an army checkpoint outside of Ramallah fired rubber-coated steel bullets at some 500 Palestinians who were throwing stones at them.
Eleven Palestinians were injured, medical sources told the agency, in the clashes which broke out after a march of some 1,500 people following Friday afternoon Muslim prayers.
In Hebron, south of Ramallah, a group of Palestinians also clashed with Israeli soldiers after they closed off the divided city with cement blocks, witnesses were cited as saying.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries in Hebron.
On Friday morning, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian in the leg who they said had been watching an Israeli school next to the Jewish settlement of Masuah in the Jordan Valley, Israel Radio reported, quoted by Haaretz.
The soldiers said they tried to apprehend the Palestinian but he fled, so they fired at his legs. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, said the report.
In the Gaza Strip Friday, some 2,500 mourners waved flags of hard-line Palestinian factions, including the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and called on their armed wings to attack Israelis, according to AFP.
People at the funeral in Gaza for Ahmed Mohesen, 22 -- killed by Israeli heavy machine gun fire near the Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip -- denounced Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak and right-wing leader Ariel Sharon who is poised to unseat him in elections next week.
"Barak and Sharon you are cowards! The Palestinian people will not be humiliated!" they cheered.
"Death to America! Death to Israel!" added others.
"The Intifada (uprising) goes on with millions of martyrs!"
Haaretz also reported that Barak convened a meeting with the Israeli army leadership Friday to discuss the killing of two Israelis.
In a statement released by the prime minister's office, Barak said “the attackers would not go unpunished, and that Israel would do everything possible to defend its citizens, including unilateral separation from the Palestinians.”
Last night, Shmuel Gillis, 42, of Karmei Tzur, was killed by Palestinian gunmen who fired at his car near the Aroub refugee camp on the Jerusalem-Hebron highway. Lior Attiah, 23, of Afula, was fatally shot yesterday morning on the outskirts of Jenin in Israeli-controlled territory. "We call on everyone not to risk their lives by entering areas under Palestinian control," Judea and Samaria police chief Dep.-Cmdr. Rafi Peled was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying.
The attacks came amid continuing calls by Palestinian opposition groups, including Fateh, to continue the Intifada.
Reports, meanwhile, said that it has become evident to the Israeli army that many their soldiers do not abide by the rules of engagement during confrontations with the Palestinian protestors – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)