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Latest victims buried as U.S. moves to stem violence

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January 7, 2001 

JERUSALEM-- (AP) - With the United States pushing to quell violence ahead of any peace talks, Palestinians buried one of its latest victims Saturday - 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 avenge the blood of our martyrs," the crowd chanted. "Revenge, revenge."

Gunmen fired in the air around the woman's corpse, which was covered by the Palestinian flag and that of militant group Hamas.

Another funeral was under way 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. Others with mental disabilities joined his 500-strong funeral procession.

More than three months of bloodshed has claimed the lives of 358 people, most of them Palestinians.

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.

Both sides have expressed strong doubt a peace deal can be closed in the two weeks Clinton has left in office.

Negotiations will continue under President-elect George W. Bush's administration, Arafat said Saturday, in a Qatar and Oman TV broadcast monitored in the West Bank.

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. Ephraim 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.

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 Eve, held this year against a backdrop of violence that has kept many pilgrims away. Greek Orthodox clerics in black robes overlaid with red and gold vestments led a procession through Jerusalem's Old City, then traveled by car to Bethlehem for services there.

Palestinian Christians, wearing their best clothes, filled Manger Square.

Arafat was expected to attend a Christmas Eve midnight 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 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. The foreign ministers encouraged Arafat to stay with the peace process overall, however.