Palestinian Dies of Wounds in Beit Jala Shooting amid Continued Violence in Palestinian Territories

Published February 21st, 2001 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

A Palestinian, one of seven wounded by Israeli fire Tuesday night in the West Bank village of Beit Jala near Bethlehem, died later of his wounds, reports said. 

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian girl was wounded in gunfire, a young Jewish settler was stabbed and injured and a second settler was shot and seriously hurt, all in separate incidents, reports added. 

Osama Zreiher, 21, had been hit by shrapnel from an exploding Israeli tank shell, said Haaretz newspaper. 

He was one of seven Palestinians, four policemen and three civilians, who were wounded in firing by Israeli forces. 

Another three Palestinians were admitted to hospital to be treated for shock, sources told AFP. 

Palestinian witnesses told the agency that the army had opened fire with machine guns and tanks, and that the shelling hit three buildings, one of which caught fire. 

They said the firing lasted 20 minutes. 

An Israeli military spokesman was quoted by Haretz as telling Israel Radio that troops had opened fire on a group of armed men who had taken up positions facing the Jewish settlement of Gilo, in occupied east Jerusalem before the men could begin to fire themselves. 

The spokesman said the same group had fired on Gilo the night before. 

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli army said a young settler was stabbed in the shoulder by a Palestinian woman, and evacuated for medical treatment to the nearby settlement of Kyriat Arba. 

Israeli forces arrested Abeer Amr, who had been released from prison several months ago after serving a sentence for stabbing an Israeli police officer in Jerusalem's old city two years ago. 

Separately, a 17-year-old student bystander was wounded in her hand and leg when Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets at Palestinian boys who were throwing stones at a Jewish settlement in the city center, said reports. 

The army said it was responding to gunfire on the settlement and reported no injuries. 

In another incident Tuesday night, a Jewish settler was seriously injured when he was hit by two bullets fired at him as he drove toward the settlement of Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem, the paper said. 

Meanwhile, Human rights group Amnesty International condemned on Tuesday Israel's policy of killing Palestinians suspected of plotting against its troops as "state assassination," said AFP. 

In a report drafted after a visit to the region by its delegates, Amnesty International called on the Israeli army to stop killing Palestinians in cold blood and to investigate "all unlawful killings" of Palestinians. 

The report also said that Israeli troops were "reckless" in the methods used to kill or detain suspects, often using "disproportionate force" which endangered the lives of bystanders. 

In another development, Haaretz reported that Israeli soldiers stationed at the Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip are now allowed to fire warning shots at any Palestinian who approaches the junction on foot at any time of day. 

The Netzarim Junction has been a permanent hot spot in the past few months during the Intifada.  

Though Palestinian cars also travel through the junction, they are halted when Israeli convoys pass, and are therefore considered less of a threat than strangers on foot, the paper added. 

According to military sources, there has been an average of 10 shooting incidents and one roadside bomb blast per day in Gaza in the last several days – Albawaba.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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