|
|
|
||||||||
|
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spur more clashes with Palestinians
Oct. 29, 2000 in JERUSALEM -- The emotional funerals of four Palestinians who were shot dead Friday proved the flash point for renewed clashes Saturday between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza, leaving at least 51 Palestinians wounded, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head.
A battle near Gaza's main checkpoint with Israel began after the funeral of Jaber al-Mishal, whose body, draped in a Palestinian flag, was carried by a throng of mourners...Two Palestinians wounded in earlier battles were reported Saturday to have died, raising the toll in the unrest to more than 130, most of them Arabs.
Israeli officials said there were bursts of gunfire again Friday night from the Arab village of Beit Jala toward the Jewish settlement of Gilo, and that the army responded with fire from tanks and rockets from helicopter gunships. Army tanks were parked around Gilo, a comforting presence for the residents, the guns on their turrets pointed toward Beit Jala across a deep stony valley.
But in Beit Jala, a prosperous place of well-kept stone houses where Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Muslims mingle, neighbors solemnly filed into into Yacoub Quiassa's fine three-story home, which was hit Friday night by two rockets fired from helicopters, along with long bursts of .50-caliber machine-gun fire. All three stories were damaged.
"There were 25 people here, including 15 children," Quiassa said.
"When we heard the helicopter, we ran out with all the family and took shelter in the school."
The fragments of the rockets, some with identifying markings, were piled on display on the kitchen table.
"This is a present from Mr. Clinton for our children," Quiassa said bitterly, picking up a large piece of the rocket's tail. "There was no firing from here. I do not allow it."
-From Tribune News Services Oct 29, 2000 www.chicagotribune.com
|
 |
|||||||||
|
Israeli tank armed with automatic machine guns is aimed at a UN ambulance.
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
Palestinians attend funeral processions for young men who died from gunshot wounds to the head, an all too familiar scene.
|
||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |