VARIOUS: FUNERAL OF PALESTINIANS KILLED IN ISRAELI MISSILE ATTACK/ SCUFFLES BETWEEN JEWISH SETTLERS AND SOLDIERS TRYING TO REMOVE ILLEGAL HOUSES

Record ID: 645953

  • Title: VARIOUS: FUNERAL OF PALESTINIANS KILLED IN ISRAELI MISSILE ATTACK/ SCUFFLES BETWEEN JEWISH SETTLERS AND SOLDIERS TRYING TO REMOVE ILLEGAL HOUSES
  • Date: 26th June 2003
  • Summary: (W5) GAZA (JUNE 26, 2003) (REUTERS) WIDE OF WOMEN MOURNERS AT FUNERAL OF TWO BYSTANDERS KILLED IN AN ISRAELI MISSILE ATTACK ON A HAMAS MILITANT IN GAZA ON JUNE 25 VARIOUS, MEN CARRYING TWO BODIES WRAPPED IN FLAGS ON STRETCHERS (2 SHOTS) SLV MASKED GUNMEN WAVING GUNS WIDE OF PEOPLE CHANTING AND WAVING FLAGS SLV MASKED GUNMEN IN PROCESSION HAV OF FUNERAL SLV WOMEN MOURNERS IN PROCESSION WIDE OF FUNERAL (W5) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 26, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV OF MOTORCADE ARRIVING VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER MAHMOUD ABBAS MEETING IRISH FOREIGN MINISTER BRIAN COWEN, TWO MEN SEATED FOR TALKS, THEN SHAKING HANDS (4 SHOTS) (W5) OUTPOST NEAR SHVUT RACHEL SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (JUNE 26, 2003) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SETTLEMENT ON HILLTOP PAN OF LINE OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS VARIOUS, JEWISH SETTLERS DANCING SMV POLICE OFFICER SLV FEMALE SETTLER PUSHING POLICE OFFICER VARIOUS, TRUCK ARRIVING AT SETTLEMENT, SETTLERS CHASING AFTER TRUCK WIDE OF CRANE PREPARING TO DISMANTLE SETTLEMENT SLV SOLDIER CHECKING CHAINS ON CRANE SLV CROWD STANDING BY HOUSES
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA/ RAMALLAH AND NEAR SVHUT RACHEL SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK/ BAKA ELGARBIYA, NORTHERN ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAYFQCEE7DKXLZ6NSP8YP76U7F
  • Story Text: Thousands of Palestinians have marched in the funeral of two bystanders killed in an Israeli missile attack on a Hamas militant in Gaza.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met in Ramallah with Ireland's Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, who is in the region to bolster European support for the road map initiative.
    And in the West Bank minor scuffles have taken place between right-wing Israeli settlers at an outpost south of Nablus and security forces who arrived to remove illegal settlements.
    Thousands of Palestinians marched on Thursday (June 26) in the funeral of two Palestinians killed in a missile attack in Gaza on Wednesday (June 25).
    Many of the marchers held the flags of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.
    Some wore masks and carried machine guns.
    Israeli helicopter missiles and ground forces killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, battering efforts to engineer a ceasefire in support of a peace plan fraying only three weeks after its launch.
    Missiles crashed into two cars near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing two Palestinians including a woman and wounding their apparent target, an operative of Islamic militant group Hamas which has led 33 months of conflict with Israel.
    Hospital sources said the injured militant, Mohammed Sayem, had had his leg amputated. Palestinian security sources said Sayem was on Israel's wanted list and that he was in one car while the two people killed were in the other, a taxi.
    Despite the recent bloodshed, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said on Thursday he expects an announcement "within hours" on an agreement by Palestinian militias to suspend attacks on Israelis.
    The Palestinian leader's comments are the strongest sign yet that a temporary truce will be offered by the three main militant groups - Hamas, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and Islamic Jihad.
    But leaders of those groups immediately rejected the statement that a deal was hours away, though they said an announcement may come in the next few days.
    Any ceasefire will be a unilateral move by the Palestinians as the Israelis continue to insist that militant groups are dismantled, not negotiated with.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, appointed by Arafat under international pressure, has said he does not intend to confront the militants. Instead, he wants to persuade them to accept a truce that would end 33 months of violence.
    Abbas - better known as Abu Mazen - met with Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen on Thursday.
    In line with the U.S.-backed peace plan, Israel has pledged to dismantle settler outposts it calls illegal.
    Israeli forces arrived on Thursday afternoon to dismantle a settler outpost near the Shvut Rachel Settlement in the West Bank where right-wing Israelis dug in at an outpost south of Nablus.
    Settlers put up some resistance and there were a few scuffles, but the operation went ahead without any major incident.
    In Baka-al-Garbiyeh in northern Israel, a Palestinian shot dead an Israeli man and seriously wounded a second, both telephone company employees in northern Israel near the West Bank border.
    U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, will be in the region this weekend for talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on putting the peace plan into motion.
    Israel has said the road map, envisaging the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, could go nowhere unless Palestinian armed groups are reined in.
    Palestinians have also accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of trying to sabotage any truce by launching "track-and-kill" operations against militants in a burst of violence in which more than 60 people have been killed.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register