PALESTINE: Israeli settlers go on rampage in Hebron

Armed Israeli settlers who went on a rampage throughout Hebron on July
28 shot dead Nevine Musa Jamjoum, a 14-year-old Palestinian from the town.

Tens of armed settlers went on a violent rampage, attacking Palestinians,
breaking into houses and setting fire to them. Fifteen other Palestinians
were injured; three of them remain in serious condition. Israeli police
officers were also injured when the settlers attacked them with stones.

Nevine was, like all the other Palestinian residents of the town, in
her home, under curfew. She was standing on her balcony when the settlers
opened fire and shot her in the head.

Another Palestinian child, seven-year-old Ahmed An-Natshe, was injured
when a settler stabbed him with a knife. Fauaz Idrees, aged nine, was shot
and wounded by a settler from Kiriyat Arba, and seven other Palestinians
were injured when a settler drove into them with his car as they were riding
on a horse and cart.

The Israeli peace organisation, Gush Shalom, said in its press release:
“It could have been easily predicted that the settler funeral will be followed
by the assault of settlers upon the inhabitants of Hebron — but nothing
was done, either by the army or the police and other — to stop it from
taking place. The government of Israel, which allowed the settlers to invade
the heart of Hebron and allotted considerable military forces to the task
of closely guarding the settlers, is directly responsible for the settlers'
acts. A chief part in the responsibility rests upon defence minister Ben-Eliezer,
the leader of the Labour Party.”

[From Palestine Monitor <http://www.palestinemonitor.org>.]

From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.

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From GLW issue 503