- BIDDU -- Israeli forces killed
two Palestinians protesting against the new separation barrier yesterday
as the dispute over the controversial structure intensified.
-
- Initially peaceful protests in Biddu, a village near
Jerusalem, became violent as troops cleared people from the fields.
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- The demonstrations descended into a confrontation between
Israelis firing rubber bullets, teargas and, reportedly, live rounds, and
Palestinian youths throwing stones and using catapults.
-
- In a separate incident, Palestinian gunmen attacked Israeli
forces at the Erez crossing point between Israel and Gaza, killing a soldier.
The two gunmen, who were later said to be from al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,
were also killed.
-
- Witnesses said the Palestinian demonstrators in Biddu
had been killed when plainclothes Israeli border police opened fire as
the protests became more violent.
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- "It was a very violent confrontation and six security
personnel were injured," said an army spokesman. "To the best
of our knowledge, our forces responded only with teargas and rubber bullets.
We are investigating the reported fatalities."
-
- The two men killed in Biddu were the first to die in
sporadic demonstrations in the past few months against the West Bank barrier
- a project Israel says keeps suicide bombers out of its cities, but which
Palestinians have branded as a means of seizing land.
-
- At the behest of the UN general assembly, the international
court of justice held three days of hearings in The Hague this week into
the legality of the barrier, which snakes into Israeli-occupied land that
Palestinians want for a sovereign state. The court's non-binding verdict
is not expected for some time.
-
- Yesterday Ziad Mansoor, 23, from Biddu, said he had witnessed
the shooting dead of Zacharia Eid, a father of three from a nearby village.
Mr Eid had been arrested by Israelis and put in a jeep, but managed to
run away, at which point he was shot, according to Mr Mansoor.
-
- He said they had been protesting because the separation
barrier would ruin the future of the villages.
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- "We will be cut off from everything we need to have
for a normal life," he said.
-
- "What we are seeing now is a new intifada, which
is coming from the people, not the leaders. Like the first intifada, we
are not trying to kill anyone - just trying to show our anger."
-
- As clashes continued, Palestinians threw stones and the
Israelis fired teargas.
-
- Periodically, a cry would go up among Palestinians that
someone had been injured and an ambulance would go to the rescue. One paramedic
said that at least 11 people had been wounded by live ammunition and 14
by rubber bullets.
-
- Eventually the Israelis pushed the Palestinians into
Biddu and took up positions in houses on the perimeter.
-
- In Ramallah Israeli military vehicles surrounded the
compound of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, for the first time in
18 months. Troops were confronted by stone-throwing youths, and the army
said it had shot dead a youth who hurled a petrol bomb.
-
- Besides the unrest in Biddu, angry protests flared in
the neighbouring villages of Beit Surik and Beit Iksa.
-
-
- Ibrahim Mughar, the head of a school in Beit Surik, said
10 West Bank villages north-west of Jerusalem would be affected by the
separation barrier, and would be cut off from much of their farmland.
-
- The villages are not solely reliant on agriculture. They
are all close to Ramallah and Jerusalem and many people work outside the
area - either legally of illegally. But the barrier will make it increasingly
difficult for them to travel to work.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1157362,00.html
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