Adam Hanieh
RAMALLAH — Tension in the West Bank has increased dramatically in the last two weeks following the shooting of three Palestinian workers at a roadblock into the West Bank on March 10.
As Palestinians working in Israel were returning home to Hebron, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a taxi, killing three and wounding 27. The soldiers claimed they fired after the driver attempted to run the roadblock.
Eyewitnesses, however, said that the van had already been waved on when the soldiers opened fire. One soldier had ordered the car to move after he had completed a check when another soldier fired at the car and apparently shot the driver. The driver lost control of the car and it crashed into the Israeli watchtower.
Israeli soldiers then opened fire at the car again. Some of the labourers lay on the ground for protection. The soldiers continued shooting, injuring more people. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers did not shoot at the car's tyres but shot to kill, directly into the car.
The soldiers responsible have been released by the Israeli government.
Following the shootings, protests erupted across the West Bank, most notably in the major Palestinian cities of Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin. During these demonstrations Israeli troops opened fire with rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas, causing hundreds of injuries.
On March 11, an Israeli sniper on the roof of an Arab house in Hebron shot a 13-year-old Palestinian in the head as he returned home from school. The child died in hospital. Six children have been killed in the past year by Israeli soldiers, bringing to 24 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers since the beginning of 1997.
On March 14, eight journalists were wounded by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in Hebron. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers intentionally targeted the journalists, who were standing 20 metres from the soldiers and some 200 metres from the demonstrators when they were hit repeatedly by the rubber-coated metal bullets.
Na'el Shiyouki, a sound technician for Reuters TV, was hit four times by the bullets. Video footage showed Shiyouki lying on the ground with blood dripping from his head, waving his journalist card as Israeli soldiers shot him twice in the leg and stomach. The journalists say that they shouted, in Hebrew and English, that they were journalists and not to shoot. The Israeli soldiers continued shooting and wounded another seven journalists, including several who were trying to aid the wounded.
The demonstrations revealed emerging divisions between the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian population as a whole. The Palestinian leadership did not support the demonstrations and in many cases acted with the Israeli army to restrain demonstrators.
During a demonstration in Ramallah, Palestinian police blocked students from Birzeit University from approaching the demonstration site. In a separate incident, Palestinian police fired tear gas at demonstrators in Nablus. This incident was denied by the Palestinian Authority and not reported in Arabic newspapers, but footage of the event was broadcast widely on Israeli TV. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called for calm and requested international intervention.
In a separate incident, Palestinian police detained Shawqi Issa, executive director of LAW (the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment), and Samih Muhsen, editor of LAW's magazine People's Rights.
The two were detained for 12 hours on the order of Palestinian police chief Ghazi Jibali following their publication of articles critical of Jibali, in particular his order to ban demonstration by Palestinians during the recent Gulf crisis.
Issa and Muhsen were asked to sign a document pledging that they wouldn't criticise the Palestinian Authority in future publications. Both refused to sign but later were released.