WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAEL SAYS IT MAY BE FORCED TO PURSUE PALESTINIAN MILITANTS AFTER A WEST BANK SETTLER IS KILLED AND FOUR OTHERS WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING ATTACK AT THE BEIT HAGAY JUNCTION

Record ID: 400367

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAEL SAYS IT MAY BE FORCED TO PURSUE PALESTINIAN MILITANTS AFTER A WEST BANK SETTLER IS KILLED AND FOUR OTHERS WOUNDED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING ATTACK AT THE BEIT HAGAY JUNCTION
  • Date: 24th June 2005
  • Summary: (W4)BEIT HAGAY JUNCTION, WEST BANK (JUNE 24,2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF AREA WHERE ONE TEENAGE SETTLER WAS KILLED AND FOUR INJURED IN PALESTINIAN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING ATTACK 0.06 2. VARIOUS OF AMBULANCES AND ISRAELI SOLDIERS ON SITE (2 SHOTS) 0.17 3. VARIOUS OF INJURED TEENAGERS' PERSONAL ITEMS ON FLOOR 0.26 4. ZOOM OUT: ROCKS COVERED
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIT HAGAY JUNCTION, WEST BANK/JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA7COTERT2GUP6AE5RNP3G762WH
  • Story Text: Israeli official say Israel might be forced to
    persue Palestinian militants, following West Bank shooting
    attack on which one settler was killed and four injured.


    One teenage stettler was killed and four others
    wounded in a drive-by shooting attack on a hitchhiking post
    in Beit-Hagay junction near the West Bank city of Hebron on
    Friday (June 24).

    The latest violence to hinder a fragile
    Israeli-Palestinian truce was committed by a Palestinian
    gunmen who shot on Israelis standing at a hitchhiking post.

    The gunmen later opened fire at an Israeli vehicle close to
    a nearby settlement, injuring three settlers.

    The militant then escaped and Israeli troops launched a
    search backed up by helicopter gunships, witnesses said.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
    ambush.

    It was the second ambush killing of a settler in four
    days after months of relative calm in the West Bank. The
    ceasefire has been fraying for weeks in Gaza, posing the
    spectre of disruptions to Israel's planned pullout from the
    territory.

    Raanan Gissin, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister's
    offices aid that Palestinian President Mahmoud
    Abbas is doing the wrong thing by trying to converse with
    Palestinian militant groups, instead of dismantling them.

    "It's clear from this that even after the meeting with
    (Palestinian President) Abu Mazen which pledged that he
    will take all the necessary steps to stop terrorist
    activity, terrorist activity is on the rise. I want to make
    it very clear that, to reiterate what the (Israeli) Prime
    Minister (Ariel Sharon) have said in his meeting with Abu
    Mazen, if the Palestinian Authority will fail to take the
    necessary steps, as they are obligated according to the
    Sharm al-Sheikh understandings, we will take all the
    necessary steps to bring those who perpetrate these acts of
    murder to justice, and we will pursue them," added Gissin,
    just an hour after the shooting attack.

    The resurgence of violence marred a summit between
    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian
    President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday (June22), and Israel on
    Wednesday (June 23) reactivated an assassination policy
    against Islamic Jihad leaders.

    Sharon accused Abbas of not living up to pledges made
    at a summit to disarm militant groups, a precondition for
    U.S.-backed "road map" peace talks aimed at Palestinian
    statehood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

    Abbas said Israel's hesitation to ease burdens of
    occupation resented by Palestinians, such as closed borders
    and internal roadblocks, left him little leverage to crack
    down on militants.

    If the truce unravels, Israel's slated August
    evacuation of 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the
    West Bank could come into question as Sharon has vowed no
    "retreat under fire".

    Militants say Israel has provoked them by continuing
    raids for wanted comrades. Israel say militants have
    resumed shooting to force Abbas to share power with them
    and torpedo peacemaking.

    To curb violence, Abbas wants to coopt militants into
    mainstream institutions rather than try to crush them as
    Sharon demands, fearing this would risk civil war before
    Israeli commits to talks on Palestinian statehood.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register