WEST BANK: ISRAELI SOLDIERS OPEN FIRE AT STONE-THROWING YOUNGSTERS IN NABLUS/PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT EMERGES FROM HIS COMPOUND
Record ID:
400300
WEST BANK: ISRAELI SOLDIERS OPEN FIRE AT STONE-THROWING YOUNGSTERS IN NABLUS/PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT EMERGES FROM HIS COMPOUND
- Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI SOLDIERS OPEN FIRE AT STONE-THROWING YOUNGSTERS IN NABLUS/PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT EMERGES FROM HIS COMPOUND
- Date: 30th September 2002
- Summary: (W5) NABLUS, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 30, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV YOUTH THROWS PETROL BOMB 0.08 2. LV OF YOUTHS IN STREET 0.12 3. LV YOUTHS RUN AS GUNFIRE OVERHEARD 0.19 4. WIDE OF SCENE / AUDIO OF RAPID GUNFIRE 0.28 5. SLV ISRAELI TANK DRIVES PAST 0.31 6. SLV ISRAELI TANK MOVING PAST WINDOW 0.33 7.
- Embargoed: 15th October 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAMALLAH, BETHLEHEM, HEBRON, NABLUS, WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVAAZ5W5Y6Z9PLS1BSUWIV1K1968
- Story Text: Palestinian witnesses have said that Israeli soldiers
opened fire at stone-throwing youngsters in the West Bank city
of Nablus, killing a 10-year-old boy and wounding 18 children,
a day after Israel ended its siege of Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat's compound.
A 10-year-old boy was killed and 18 youths wounded
when Israeli soldiers opened fire at stone-throwing youngsters
in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday (September 30),
Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said. The Israeli
army had no immediate comment.
A report issued on Monday by Amnesty International said
Israel's military and Palestinian militant groups had all
shown "utter disregard for the lives of children and other
civilians" in two years of bloodshed.
The London-based human rights group said more than 250
Palestinian children had been killed during the Palestinian
uprising for statehood. More than 70 Israeli children have
died, most of them killed by Palestinian suicide bombers, it
said.
In Ramallah, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat emerged
from his headquarters on Monday reinforcing the desire for a
return to negotiations and the establishment of a Palestinian
state.
Blowing kisses and making a V-for-Victory sign, the
Palestinian president first emerged from his battered compound
on Sunday (September 29) in the wake of clouds of dust from
tanks retreating from a 10-day-old blockade that drew
international condemnation.
The pullback was an embarrassing climbdown for Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, which sent armour
roaring into the sprawling West Bank complex on September 19
after Palestinian suicide bombings killed seven people in
Israel.
Sharon had vowed to end the siege -- his latest attempt to
sideline a leader Washington says should be replaced by
Palestinians "not compromised by terror" -- only when Arafat
turned over 50 suspected militants holed up with him.
Palestinian officials said many of the wanted men in the
compound had slipped away after Israeli forces left. They said
it was decided each would fend for himself once the siege
ended.
The about-face followed a message by U.S. President George
W. Bush to Sharon demanding a speedy end to a siege the United
States apparently feared could raise regional tensions and
hurt its efforts to win international support for war on Iraq.
Hundreds of elated Palestinians rushed to the Ramallah
compound when Israeli tanks pulled back after reducing much of
the complex to rubble in what Israel had hoped would be a blow
to Arafat's prestige.
Instead, Palestinians rallied in support of a leader who
had been under fire from his own people over the slow pace of
reforms demanded by the United States.
In Bethlehem and Hebron demonstrators on Monday marched
with Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of
Arafat as they made their way through the West Bank streets.
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