VARIOUS: VIOLENCE BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELI TROOPS FOLLOWING THE FUNERAL OF A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY A JEWISH SETTLER, HAS OVERSHADOWED A NEW ROUND OF PEACE TALKS

Record ID: 399819

  • Title: VARIOUS: VIOLENCE BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELI TROOPS FOLLOWING THE FUNERAL OF A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY A JEWISH SETTLER, HAS OVERSHADOWED A NEW ROUND OF PEACE TALKS
  • Date: 29th October 1996
  • Summary: HUSAN AND HEBRON, WEST BANK/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM (OCTOBER 29, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) HUSAN, WEST BANK 1. LV MASS FUNERAL PROCESSION THROUGH VILLAGE WITH PALLBEARERS CARRYING BODY OF HILMI SHOSHA 0.10 2. MV MOURNER KISSES BOY 0.16 3. LV FUNERAL PROCESSION THROUGH VILLAGE (3 SHOTS) 0.34 4. SLV MASS PROCESSIO
  • Embargoed: 13th November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HUSAN AND HEBRON, WEST BANK/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAEOBNVPBWLLMFG6YXED6B4NW4Z
  • Story Text: - INTRO: Violence between Palestinians and Israeli troops following the funeral of a ten-year-old boy allegedly killed by a Jewish settler has overshadowed a new round of peace talks to resolve the long delayed redeployment of Israeli troops in Hebron.

    Violence erupted when Israeli soldiers opened fire on stone-throwers after thousands of mourners attended the funeral of Hilmi Shosha in Husan village, near Bethlehem on Tuesday (October 29).

    Witnesses said a group of about 50 masked mourners had been throwing stones at Israeli cars.

    Israeli soldiers responded, firing live ammunition and rubber bullets as well as using tear gas.

    Four Palestinians suffered teargas inhalation, one of them was hit by an empty tear gas canister.

    Hilmi died on Monday from injuries his family said he sustained in an attack the day before by settler Nahum Kurman, who had accused him of stone throwing.

    Kurman, security chief of the Efrat settlement, appeared in court in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

    According to Hilmi's father and witnesses, Kurman landed a blow to the boy's head with the handle of his pistol and stamped on him.

    After the court hearing Kurman's lawyer told reporters his client was innocent and was being made a scapegoat because of the political situation. He claimed the boy had been sick for a while.

    Israel radio said an autopsy showed Hilmi died from a brain haemorrhage caused by a sharp blow to the neck.

    In Tel Aviv, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators met again in continued efforts to seal an accord on the redeployment of Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Hebron.

    United States ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said he was hopeful that an agreement was close and would be reached when Palestinian President Yasser Arafat returned from a visit to Europe.

    Palestinian officials touring Hebron on Tuesday were pushed and spat on by Jewish settlers shouting "Hebron is ours".

    "Dogs", shouted settlers among a group of 50 Jewish militants who surrounded Palestinian Culture and Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, Ahmed Tibi, an adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and other officials.

    Rabbo said the delegation had decided to tour the market because no agreement could be reached on Hebron unless life was "normalised including opening the market and all of the roads".

    Israeli paratroops on patrol in the flashpoint town at the centre of deadlocked Israeli-PLO negotiations moved in quickly to separate the groups and shepherded the officials to their car which took them to safety.

    Also on Tuesday several thousand right wing Israelis demonstrated in Jerusalem, in support of the Jewish settlement in Hebron and against the scheduled Israeli troop redeployment in the city.

    The protesters called on the Israeli government to leave the Israeli military presence in the West Bank town, to safeguard the Jews who live there.

    Gathered in the pouring rain, the demonstrators, who were bused to Jerusalem from various Jewish settlements, waved signs, and listened to speeches by Israeli settler leaders.

    More than 1000 policemen were deployed to guard the demonstration which began in Jerusalem's central Paris square, and was due to be followed by a march to the American consulate.

    Arab-Jewish tension has been high since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected in May on a platform that opposes trading occupied Arab land for peace.

    Around 130,000 Jewish settlers live among two million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

    Some 400 Jewish settlers, among the most militant in the West Bank, live in Hebron, home to 100,000 Palestinians. The settlers say a partial Israeli troop pullback from the Arab town will jeopardise their security.

    Israel and the PLO have failed in three weeks of U.S.-brokered talks to seal a deal on security arrangements that would pave the way for the redeployment delayed since March.


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