WEST BANK: Palestinian, Israeli leaders denounce growing violence in West Bank flashpoint

Record ID: 563076

  • Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian, Israeli leaders denounce growing violence in West Bank flashpoint
  • Date: 2nd December 2008
  • Summary: MEN MARCHING IN FUNERAL PROCESSION VARIOUS OF MEN MARCHING, CHANTING MEN CARRYING BODY ON STRETCHER IN FUNERAL PROCESSION FUNERAL
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6RECUT7HMJ0UX9IKTUV2BQF9L
  • Story Text: Israel's Defence Minister Ehud vows to clamp down, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounces Jewish settler violence in the West Bank city of Hebron. In Nablus, hundreds march in funeral for Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces.
    Israeli and Palestinian leaders condemned on Tuesday (December 2) growing violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron.
    Stone-throwing clashes erupted on Monday night (December 1) and continued on Tuesday between Jewish settlers protesting Israeli plans to evict them from a building in the West Bank city of Hebron and their Palestinian neighbours, injuring at least four.
    A Reuters witness saw hundreds of settlers hurling stones at Palestinian homes next to the disputed settler building, where 13 Jewish families have been living for a year and a half.
    At least two Palestinian cars were set ablaze in what an Israeli security source described as a riot.
    Hardline Jewish settlers have vowed to resist an Israeli court order that they leave the building that they insist they bought from a Palestinian.

    "I don't think that any citizen can question the authority of the state over its citizens and that's what is at stake here and we will follow up on that," said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak during a tour of a military academy in northern Israel.
    And concerning expected violence to erupt in the area, Barak said: "I hope not, I can only call for citizens not to let anyone to disturb or disrupt our unity."
    At least four Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured in the clashes, according to Palestinian medics in the flashpoint city.
    Settler spokesman David Wilder said a Jewish teenager was attacked by Palestinians earlier in the day, triggering the flare-up.
    But Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called settlers behaviour 'terrorism' and said it joins a series of Israeli violations of its commitments.

    "I wanted to specially underscore the importance of the signal that could come out and certainly would be associated with the decision to move forward on Israel's request for an upgrade, upgrading its relations with the EU. At this time, and against the backdrop of all of these violations.
    What sort of massage would be sent to the Israeli electorate against the backdrop of these continued violations? Settlement activity, settler violence of all kinds, terrorism by settlers," Fayyad told reporters after delivering a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    Hebron is home to some 650 Jewish settlers who live in fortified enclaves guarded by Israeli troops in the heart of the city of 180,000 Palestinians.
    Hundreds of settler supporters, mostly youths, have come to the Jewish enclave in the past week to try to prevent the evacuation of the building, raising tensions.
    Settlers moved into the disputed building in March 2007.
    Palestinian Faiz Rajabi said the building belongs to him and he has denied selling it to the settlers.
    In the West Bank city of Nablus, hundreds of Palestinian mourners attended a funeral procession for a Palestinian Israeli forces shot and killed during a raid on Monday(December 1), the Israeli army said.
    Such killings have become less frequent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched a security campaign with U.S. backing.
    An Israeli army spokesman said troops entered Nablus to arrest what he described as a "wanted man".
    When the man attempted to get away, the troops fired warning shots and then fired at his lower body, the spokesman said.
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