12 Arabs slain, 523 hurt

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FICHT FOR A SACRED SHRINE 12 Arabs slain, 523 hurt Bloody Mideast riots worst since 1996 UNDER FIRE A Palestinian man and his 12-year-old son are caught in crossfire as they huddle near concrete block yesterday. The boy was killed and the father badly wounded.

Crossfire kills boy, 12, badly hurts Arab father REUTERS GAZA - Twelve-year-old Rami al-Durra died in his fa- ther's arms yesterday, caught in a crossfire between Palestinians and Israeli troops. Reporters watched helplessly as the boy and his father became trapped against a wall with noth- ing but a small concrete block for cover.

Bullets rained around them on a road near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Ga- za Strip. Rami crouched weeping be- hind his father, who tried in vain to shield him with his arms and body. At one point, the father raised his head and wagged his finger, as if to scold. Some time later, both were shot and Rami slumped into his father's lap.

Rami died, while his father survived, badly wounded. An ambulance driver, who braved the fierce shooting to try to rescue them, also died. "Bassam al-Bilbeisi, the ambu- lance driver, went to save the boy, " Palestinian Health Minister Riyadh al-Zanoun said. "But he was shot at. The boy was shot at as well.

Bassam and the boy Rami were both killed." The Gaza Strip, a narrow rect- angle of territory bordered by Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, the was the scene of some of worst violence yesterday. More than 200 people were hurt, al-Zanoun said. Ruled by the Palestinian Au- thority, it is home to more than 1 million Palestinians and about 6,000 Jewish settlers.

At one point yesterday an Is- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM - Israeli troops battling gunmen and thousands of rock-throwing Palestinians opened fire on the rioters yesterday, killing 12 Pales- tinians and wounding 523 in the bloodiest confronta- tions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1996.

Among those killed in the sec- ond day of deadly clashes was a 12-year-old boy who was caught in the crossfire and screamed in panic as shots hit a wall just inches above his head. The trigger for the violence was a dispute over a bitterly con- tested Jerusalem shrine sacred to Muslims and Jews.

Six Pales- tinians were killed and nearly 200 were injured in clashes at the compound Fri- day. The battle over Jerusalem has begun," Bas- sem Naim, a Pal- estinian activist, said as thou- sands of protest- ers chanting the Muslim battle "Allahu ak- AP bar [God great].* marched toward an Israeli army position. Further dim- There is danger of a cycle of violence developing.

The talks are at a very delicate stage, and it is important that the violence stops.' ming prospects SEC'Y OF STATE ALBRIGHT for an Israeli-Pal- estinian peace treaty, the two sides traded an- gry accusations Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak spoke to Palestinian lead- er Yasser Arafat by phone late yesterday.

"The prime minister warned Arafat that he [Barak] will not let violence a become tool in the negotiations," Barak's office said in a statement. But Palestinian officials said that emotions were high among running Palestinians, and that the heavy-handed response of Israeli troops made matters worse.

Secretary of State Albright, in Iceland yesterday during a trip to Europe, said she had spoken to leading parties on both sides in an effort to ease tensions. We are very concerned about the violence. Albright said. "It is clearly counterproductive in the peace process.

There is dan- ger of a cycle of violence devel- raeli helicopter hovered over- oping. head in what appeared to be a "The talks are at a very deli- show of force intended to end cate stage, and it is important the fighting. that the violence stops." Protesters lay flat and in the From the town of Jenin in the gutter or behind any object that northern edge of the West Bank offered a semblance of cover as bullets flew. to Jerusalem's Mount of Olives The wounded and dying lay in and the dusty refugee camp of the middle of the road for a long Khan Yunis at the end of the Ga- time, with ambulances unable to za Strip, similar scenes played reach them because of the inten- out over and over yesterday. sity of the shooting.

Palestinian The Israeli military said its ac- youths hurled rocks, some twirling slingshots, tions were justified to protect the settlements. while others stuffed gas-soaked rags into bottles and threw them at Israeli soldiers. The soldier fired rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds from behind walls and army vehicles.

Streets were littered with rocks and overturned garbage bins, while plumes of black smoke rose from burning tires. In Hebron, rioters running low on stones had them carried to the scene in taxis. The Palestinian Authority said 12 Palestinians were killed and four were brain-dead as a result of Israe- fire. Another 523 were injured. it said.

The Israeli Army said six sol- diers were in- Jured. In two spots an army outpost outside the Jew- ish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza and south of the West Bank town of Nablus al Palestinians, some masked, ex- changed fire with Israeli sol- diers.

"The Israelis must understand that Palestinians can also shoot and kill," said a 25-year-old gun- man armed with an M-16 as- sault rifle who would not give his name. The deadliest confrontation erupted in Nablus, where eight Palestinians — including two po- licemen and a 16-vear-old bov were killed in a protracted firefight.

Gunmen, their faces covered by checkered head scarves and black ski masks, shot from an ol- ive grove at Israeli soldiers crouching behind their vehicles.

Palestinians say the trigger for the violence was a visit Thurs- day by Ariel Sharon, leader of Is- rael's hard-line Likud Party, to the disputed Jerusalem hilltop known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanc- tuary.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are hung up because of rival sov- ereignty claims to the shrine. which was once home to the bib- lical Jewish Temple, Judaism's holiest site, and now houses two major mosques spot where that mark the tradition says the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The walled com- pound is the third holiest site of slam.

Neither side wants the other to have full control. So far, all U.S. compromise proposals have been rejected by regotators. DAILY NEWS Sunday. October 1, 2000

Cite this item

"12 Arabs slain, 523 hurt," Daily News, 1 October 2000. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2000-023. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2000-023

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They could not agree on his name