25 wounded by Israelis including several journalists in clashes
Palestine, Local, 3/14/1998

In his speech on Sunday at the Islamic Foreign Ministers' conference in Doha, Qatar, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will raise the demand for international protection for Palestinian self-rule areas and the Palestinian territories still under Israeli military occupation.

Palestinian sources said that in light of last week's shooting deaths of three Palestinian workers near Hebron and the subsequent wave of violent clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops "the creation of any form of international protection for the Palestinians has become more vital than ever before."

Arafat is due to arrive in Doha this morning, coming from Cairo where he had a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Palestinian sources said that both leaders discussed the latest developments in the region and the European peace proposals that are to be brought to the region by the British foreign secretary Rubin Cook during his visit on Tuesday.

During the Saturday clashes in the West Bank, at least 25 Palestinians were wounded, including Awad Awad, an Agence France Presse photographer who was injured in Hebron, and three Palestinian policemen who were shot in Bethlehem. Colonel Farouk Amin, representative of the Palestinian side in the joint liaison office with the Israelis in Bethlehem, said the policemen were in an area far from where clashes took place between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli troops and there was no justification whatsoever for the Israelis to shoot at them.

The strongest clashes were in the area surrounding Dura, the hometown of the three Palestinian workers who were shot dead last Tuesday. Israeli soldiers used tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse dozens of Palestinian youths who walked out of the town towards the main Israeli roadblock that was set outside the area.

Senior Palestinian and Israeli officers met to discuss ways to contain the clashes and the Palestinian side complained that Israel is not doing enough to calm the situation. "Instead of calling on the Palestinian government to control the angry crowd," said one Palestinian officer, "Israel should pull its troops from areas that are considered hotbeds for violent clashes with the Palestinians. There is no reason why Israeli troops set up roadblocks on entrances to Dura where they know the population is extremely angry and the whole situation is volatile."

Hebron mayor Mustafa Natshe blamed the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu for escalating the whole situation and said that the Netanyahu government "wants to see the whole region exploding in order to undermine any genuine effort that aims to revive the peace talks between the PNA and Israel."

Na'el Shuyukhi, a Reuters cameraman in Hebron who was shot and wounded during Friday night clashes in the city is reported to be in a stable and improving condition at Hadassah Hospital in West Jerusalem. Shuyukhi was shot by Israeli soldiers and was left to bleed on the scene for a few minutes with none of the reporters who were present daring to get closer and save him.

Na'el, said WTN cameraman in Hebron Samih Shahin, was wounded as we all were filming clashes between the Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers on one hand and Palestinian youths on the other. "Na'el was shot in the leg. He fell on the ground and seconds later, he was shot with another rubber bullet in the head. He started bleeding. We tried to help him but the soldiers kept firing at his direction and none of those present dared to get closer to him. All our calls to cease fire never helped. With every scream that burst out of Na'el's mouth, we could feel a soldier aiming his gun and shooting every time he saw someone trying to get close to Na'el, who took another hit and bled heavily from his head. Minutes later, one of the young men in the area sneaked from behind the wall and dragged him by his leg," said Shahin who recalled a similar anti-journalist campaign in Hebron some six months ago suring which four journalists were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers.

Israeli sources blamed the settlers for Friday's clashes in Hebron and a number of those were summoned to the police station for questioning. However, Palestinians insist, Na'el and the others were shot by soldiers and not by settlers. "Settlers do not use rubber bullets. Their weapons are live and deadly but in this case it was the soldiers who fired at us," said one journalist. Another one said he was told by an Israeli soldier that the area where they were filming in the heart of Hebron was declared closed by the army. "When I asked him for the military order that closed the zone, the soldier told me he had already shown that order to my wounded colleague, not on paper but via a bullet," he added. "The soldier", he added, "shoved the camera away and pushed me back as he yelled that I should leave the area at once."

The Palestinian Ministry of Information strongly condemned the shooting of the journalists and the Arab Journalists' Association held a press conference in Hebron saying that Israeli troops have violated all international conventions that protect the right of journalists to operate freely and unharmed.

Previous Stories:
  Tense Friday as a result of Bloody Tuesday   (3/13/1998)
  Palestine worried over continued unrest, European initiative in making   (3/12/1998)
  Israel continues land confiscation and house demolitions   (2/11/1998)

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