Shuhada street open for Palestinian vehicles
Palestine, Local, 10/29/1997

Nine months after the signing of the Hebron agreements, Shuhada Street in Hebron was open to Palestinian motor vehicles Wednesday. Shuhada (Arabic for "martyrs") street connects the 80 percent of Hebron which has become under the PNA control with the remaining 20 percent which hosts the Jewish settlements in the heart of the city.

The street was scheduled to have been opened some three months ago already, but renovation work was delayed due to continued attacks by settlers on Palestinians and foreign workers involved in the construction works there. The street, which is a few hundred meters long, has three police checkpoints and is patrolled by Israeli soldiers on a regular basis. Parking on the street adjacent to houses of the settlement is prohibited.

The settlers in Hebron held a strike to protest the opening of the street to Palestinian vehicles. They marched through the streets of the city center under intensive guard of Israeli soldiers. A number of settlers attacked, during their march, a Palestinian car driver who drove through the street. Other skirmishes were reported too.

Abed, a resident of Shuhada street said he was not happy because, "I don't see all the cars driving along the road and the shops are not open. There are Israeli soldiers all along the road as well as settlers. That is not the way it should be. We should live in peace. There is no need for violence.²

Noam Arnon, spokesman for the settlers criticized the opening of the street to Palestinian vehicles and said that the Israeli government which has decided to stop giving territory over to the PNA according to the Oslo Accords "is giving the Palestinians the King David (the Jewish name given to Shuhada) Street which is the only street that provides the Jewish residents of Hebron with a lifeline.²

Previous Stories:
  PA security nabs drug smugglers   (10/28/1997)
  Clashes continue between settlers, Palestinians in Hebron   (10/27/1997)
  Storms and rain cause major damage   (10/20/1997)

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