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German doctor killed in Israeli rocket attacks

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November 17, 2000 

JERUSALEM--(UNB/AP) - Israeli helicopters rocketed West Bank targets, including offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, before dawn Thursday, killing a German chiropractor and wounding 10 Palestinians in a further escalation in the worst Mideast fighting in decades.

Also Thursday, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy died of injuries sustained a day earlier in a clash with Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll to 221 in seven weeks of confrontation. The vast majority of those killed have been Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday brushed off criticism at home that the army's response to Palestinian shooting attacks was not tough enough.

"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force," Barak said on Israel radio. "The opposite is true, and the state of Israel would then be in a much more complicated situation."

The overnight missile attacks on Fatah offices in the West Bank towns of Salfit, Tulkarem and Hebron, as well as an armory in Jericho, came in response to Palestinian shooting ambushes earlier this week that killed two Israeli civilians and two soldiers.

Israeli troops also fired rockets and large-caliber machine guns at the West Bank town of Beit Jalla after Palestinian gunmen fired from Beit Jalla on the nearby Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Israeli troops also fire The intense firefight raged for several hours.

Harald Fischer, 68, a German chiropractor, was killed in the Israeli attack on Beit Jalla. Fischer's home came under fire during the intense fighting, and his family sought shelter under the stairwell. However, Fischer left his home at one point to try to help wounded neighbors, said his Palestinian wife, Norma.

Fischer was killed just outside his home. Palestinian doctors said the fatal injuries could have been caused either by large-caliber bullets or rockets. A wall near the spot where he died was pocketed with .50 caliber machine gun bullets. Fischer's left leg was severed and his upper body riddled with bullets. Fischer, who is originally from the town of Gummersbach near Cologne in western Germany, moved to Beit Jalla in 1981 and was a father of three children.

He was to be buried in Beit Jalla later Thursday.

In Salfit, a 30-year-old Palestinian, Rizzek Ishtayeh, lost his left leg and was critically wounded when an Israeli rocket struck his bedroom, his family said. The Ishtayeh home is adjacent to the Fatah office in Salfit which was shelled by Israel.

In all, 10 Palestinians were wounded in the rocketing, including eight in Beit Jalla.

"The Israeli army intended to shoot civilians, notank and Gaza, Palestinians marched to mark the day, and many of the processions turned into clashes with Israeli forces. Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire, the highest one-day toll since Oct. 20.

Still, Israeli and Palestinian leaders talked tentatively about peace.

In a broadcast eulogy to Leah Rabin, widow of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Arafat said he continues to be "fully committed" to making peace. Israel has said the violence must stop before negotiations can resume.

U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross held talks with Arafat on Thursday, after a meeting late Wednesday with Barak.