Israeli Investigation continues in Old City shooting
Palestine, International, 11/21/1997

Israel has not solved the mystery of the Old City shooting incident in which one Israeli settler was killed and another seriously wounded two days ago but police investigators believe the assailants were members of the Islamic Resistance Movement, better known as Hamas, who live in East Jerusalem.

Other lines of investigation into the attack link the Palestinian police to the assailants. Israeli Police sources said they fear the fatal shooting in the Old City was carried out by Palestinian police despite the fact that inspection of the bullet shells show they weren¹t fired from Palestinian police weapons, whose details and serial numbers are registered with Israel according to the terms of the Oslo Agreements.

Meanwhile, Israel sent in additional police troops into the Old City of Jerusalem and police patrols filled the streets of the areas surrounding the walls out of fear that unrest may erupt in the city following the Friday prayers. According to police assessment, Jewish settlers were likely to attacks Arabs in Jerusalem or may try to take over Arab houses in the Old City where the shooting took place, or they may even try to increase the Jewish presence in the settlement of Ras Al Amoud, now known as Beit Moskowitz, after the American Jewish financier Irving Moskowitz who allegedly bought the houses some decades ago.

Hamas activists in the past had used AK-47 Kalashnikov automatic rifles which apparently were smuggled into the country from abroad but they also used Israeli army-issued M-16 rifles that were stolen from military warehouses. The fact that a Kalashnikov rifle was used in this attack has given some reason to Israeli police investigators to assume that the weapon had come from the Palestinian police.

A senior Palestinian source refuted the allegations and said the whole theory is built on nonsense. "We are not the only force on earth that uses Kalashnikovs and also we all know that Palestinian guerrillas who fought against the Israeli occupation over 28 years were also using Kalashnikovs as well," he said. He noted that the charges filed by some Israeli circles hinting that Palestinian police might have been involved in the attack are meant to give Israel an alibi for not honoring any of the signed agreements. "The easiest thing Netanyahu's government can think of is to blame the Palestinian government for whatever happens and then use that blame as a pretext not to move forward on the peace front," the source said.

In part of the decisions taken by the Israeli authorities following the shooting incident, plainclothes Israeli police will be deployed in the Old City of Jerusalem to locate Palestinian security personnel who allegedly operate in the Eastern part of the city and to search out for houses built in the Old City without proper licenses. Another decision was taken to support a Knesset proposal to enlarge the security budget for the protection of Jewish settlers in the city.

The attack in the Old City of Jerusalem has aggravated the crisis of confidence between security heads of Palestine and Israel. A top Palestinian security official said the abduction by Israel of two Hamas prisoners from the Palestinian Preventive Security as they were being transferred from Hebron to Nablus had caused a major rift in relations between the two parties and this rift no doubt "does not contribute to security cooperation, including the investigation of the attack in Jerusalem.²

Military analysts had noted that the method of attack indicated it was well-planned and had followed a successful intelligence gathering. They said the shooting also disrupted the delicate security balance within the Old City. Until now, they said, Israel had feared stabbings or handgun attacks, but a shooting with a Kalashnikov meant the level of violence has intensified.

Previous Stories:
  New Palestinian census causes clash over Jerusalum   (11/20/1997)
  Shooting attack renews battle over Jerusalem   (11/20/1997)
  Arafat's political advisor: Netanyahu deceives himself   (11/7/1997)

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