The Missoulian · 22 December 1996
CP-1996-026
Settlers, Palestinians clash in Hebron as tensions rise
Transcribed from the clipping
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) — A fight between settlers and schoolchildren escalated into a melee between hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians in Hebron on Saturday, and a U.S. mediator returned to the region to revive negotiations over the troubled city.
U.S. envoy Dennis Ross was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat late Saturday or Sunday. Peace talks are deadlocked over a long-delayed Israeli troop withdrawal from Hebron, where 500 Jewish settlers live amid 130,000 Palestinians.
On Friday, Arafat accused Ross of being biased in favor of the Israelis, and Palestinian officials said they doubted he could jump-start the talks. In Hebron, Israeli soldiers in helmets, with guns cocked, hit, kicked and punched Palestinians after fights broke out near Jewish settlements in Hebron's Old City.
Reporters saw at least one Palestinian beaten unconscious, and another bleeding from his nose and mouth. Several Palestinian youths pelted the soldiers with stones and tomatoes. Settlers clapped and cheered as the soldiers pushed the Palestinians away. The fighting broke out along the main road running beside the settlements.
Some 200 Jewish settlers, many of them armed, exchanged blows and insults with 100 Palestinian residents before Israeli troops intervened. It was unclear what sparked the confrontations.
Cite this clipping
"Settlers, Palestinians clash in Hebron as tensions rise," The Missoulian, 22 December 1996. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1996-026. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1996-026
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Last updated 2 November 2026
This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1724 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
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