An Israeli occupation soldier was shot and killed in the southern Palestinian town of Al-Khalil (Hebron) Sunday, ostensibly at the hands of a Palestinian resistance fighter. Another Israeli soldier was killed near the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya on Saturday, also at the hands of a Palestinian. Israeli media and websites initially said the soldier in Al-Khalil was seriously and then critically injured, ostensibly by a sniper's bullet. However, Arab eyewitnesses said the soldier died immediately when he was shot. Following the incident, clashes occurred at the Bab Al-Zawiya district between stone-hurling Palestinian youngsters and heavily armed Israeli soldiers. Eyewitnesses said Israeli troops used live ammunition in addition to rubber bullets against the Palestinians, wounding a number of youth. The incident occurred shortly before sunset Sunday as hundreds of Jewish settlers converged at the Ibrahimi Mosque to celebrate a Jewish holiday. Israel effectively converted the erstwhile exclusive Muslim sanctuary into a virtual synagogue following the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 when a Jewish terrorist in army uniform stormed the shrine, killing 29 worshipers and seriously wounding dozens others.
MANHUNT: Following the Al-Khalil incident, Israeli occupation troops closed off all entrances to the town, the largest in the West Bank. Crack soldiers also carried out what was described as “provocative” and “heavy handed” searches in several neighbourhoods adjacent to the Islamic sanctuary, including Abu Snineh and Al-Jaabary. Troops also evacuated Jewish settlers from the area, bussing them to Jerusalem. A Palestinian source opined that the killed soldier might have been shot by “friendly fire”. “I know the area very well. It is very likely that another Israeli soldier shot his colleague by mistake. Israeli troops have been quite nervous of late.” Pundits in occupied Palestine are at a loss as to whether the latest fatal shooting in Al-Khalil constitutes an escalation of armed resistance against the Israeli occupation. The killing of an Israeli soldier near Qalqilya yesterday was described as having a “personal background”. It is still premature to tell for sure whether the Al-Khalil incident was an “individual” or “coordinated” act. Some Palestinian observers argue that mounting frustration among many ordinary Palestinians as a result of combined suppression by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), as well as a hard-pressing economic crisis, may well spark off a new uprising against Israel. Added to this is the political deadlock resulting from the total failure of the so-called peace process. Israel and the PA resumed “peace talks” last month. However, no significant progress has been reported as Israel — which is supported and backed by the United States — keeps refusing to give up the spoils of the 1967 war and continues to build illegal Jewish-only settlements all over the West Bank. Many serious observers, Israeli and Palestinian alike, are convinced that time has outrun the peace process and that there is no longer any real chance for a genuine peace settlement, as Israel has effectively killed any remaining possibility for the establishment of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state.
