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TITLE: Teenage Victim Buried as Amnesty International Announces Investigation |
AUTHOR: Jamie Tarabay |
PUB: The Independent |
DATE: January 6, 2001 |
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Palestinians today buried one of their latest victims - an 18-year-old woman killed in cross-fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. About 1,000 people gathered in Hebron for the funeral of Arij Jabili, shot in the heart Friday when bullets pierced the walls of her home near the Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai in the West Bank. "We will revenge the blood of our martyrs," the crowd chanted. "Revenge, revenge." Gunmen fired in the air around the teenager's corpse, which was covered by the Palestinian flag and that of militant group Hamas. Another funeral was under way Saturday in Gaza for a Palestinian man shot dead when he scaled a fence close to an army post late Friday. The army said he was shouting an Islamic religious slogan, indicating he was planning an attack. The man's family said he was mentally handicapped. More than three months of bloodshed has claimed the lives of 358 people, most of them Palestinian. CIA chief George Tenet was to head to the region Saturday as part of the U.S. drive to contain the fighting and prepare for a final round of peace talks in U.S. President Bill Clinton's term. Israel has said it would resume negotiations only if Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tried to reduce violence. Tenet is to meet Sunday in Cairo with senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials. In London, Amnesty International said it was sending a delegation to investigate Israel's use of lethal force against civilians. The delegation, led by a researcher for the rights group, said it would examine use of "extrajudicial execution" in particular. Over the past two months, Israeli forces have been targeting leaders of the uprising, or intefadeh, that began in late September. Palestinians say more than a dozen have been killed Top Israeli officials have confirmed Israel's role in only a few of the individual killings, but defend the practice without apology. Eprhraim Sneh, Israel's deputy defense minister, called it "effective, precise and just." "If anyone has committed or is planning to carry out terrorist attacks, he has to be hit," Sneh said this week on Israel radio. No comment on the Amnesty trip was immediately available from Israeli officials Saturday. On the Palestinians' side, gunmen have staged frequent shooting attacks on Israeli military outposts and Jewish settlements, as well as roadside ambushes that have made travel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip extremely dangerous. Saturday was Orthodox Christmas, held this year against a backdrop of violence that has kept many pilgrims away. The day was to see a procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem for Christmas services. Arafat was expected to attend a midnight Christmas Mass in Bethlehem, after stopping in Jordan for consultations with Prime Minister Ali Abu-Ragheb. Arafat was scheduled to meet with King Abdullah II on Sunday on his way back to Gaza from Bethlehem. Arafat has been seeking direction and backing from fellow Arab leaders ahead on the U.S. peace proposals. On Thursday, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo urged Arafat to hold firm on one key aspect of Clinton's peace plan - the suggestion that Palestinians renounce their claim to the right of return to Israel of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. END |