- NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters)
- Palestinian gunmen wounded seven Jews who defied Israeli military orders
to try to reach a holy site in the West Bank city of Nablus Friday, Israeli
security sources said.
-
- The sources said one of the Jews was critically injured
when gunmen fired at their vehicle near Joseph's Tomb -- believed by some
to be the burial site of the biblical patriarch.
-
- "All the wounded have been evacuated to hospital
and the defense forces are carrying out a search in the area," a security
source said. "They had not asked for permission to visit the site."
-
- Palestinian residents of Nablus said the Israeli army
had moved in to seal off the area of the shooting.
-
- The army bans Israelis from visiting areas meant to be
under Palestinian control.
-
- Jewish visitors to Joseph's Tomb have required military
escorts since the start of a Palestinian uprising three years ago. But
some still try to make it by themselves to pray there.
-
- Joseph's Tomb has been vandalized by Palestinians and
marked with graffiti by religious Jews since the start of the uprising.
Some archaeologists dismiss the claim that it is the real tomb.
-
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