Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

One Palestinian killed & four more to be buried

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

December 3, 2000 

JERUSALEM--(AP) - One Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli security forces Saturday, witnesses said, and funerals were planned for four Palestinians who died a day earlier as the death toll climbed above 290 in the current round of violence.

The intensity of the clashes and the number of Palestinian stone throwers has been declining in recent weeks, yet rarely a day passes without fatalities.

A Palestinian working with an electric drill was fatally shot in the neck and the chest Saturday afternoon near the West Bank town of Ramallah, according to witnesses and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The man, Shehada al-Jafari, 26, was working near the window of a building that was damaged in previous clashes, and Palestinian witnesses speculated that his electric drill was mistaken for a weapon by the Israeli forces, who opened fire.

The Israeli military said soldiers identified an armed Palestinian in the area and opened fire, but did not have information on what happened to the man.

Meanwhile, four funerals were scheduled Saturday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Three died in confrontations Friday and the fourth, a 14-year-old boy, died of gunshot wounds suffered Wednesday in Gaza at the Karni crossing point with Israel.

The latest deaths put the overall death toll at 294, the vast majority Palestinian, since the violence broke out at the end of September.

In Friday's clashes, Palestinians poured out of Muslim midday prayer services and confronted Israeli security forces at several tense spots in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Throughout the two months of Mideast violence, stone-throwing confrontations have routinely erupted following mosque prayers on the Muslim Sabbath. This marked the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the number of worshippers swells.

Israel suspended peace talks after the violence erupted at the end of September, and the two sides have not made any substantial progress toward resuming negotiations.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is facing early elections in the spring, called Thursday for a phased peace plan that would recognize a Palestinian state, but would put off the most sensitive issues, such as control of Jerusalem.

Israel's Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said Friday in Washington that a deal could be worked out before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves office next month.

However, Palestinian leaders have rejected the offer, saying that after seven years of negotiations they want a final, comprehensive settlement that allows for the establishment of Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.