|
Villagers said Israeli
soldiers fired without provocation |
1989: Six killed in West Bank village
raid |
Artificially 1969:
The At least six
Palestinians have been killed in an early morning raid by Israeli soldiers
on an Arab village on the West Bank.
Thirty people were also reported to have been injured in clashes in
Nahalin, a village of 4,500 inhabitants to the south of Jerusalem.
Villagers said they had been verbally abused and harassed by members of
the border police for several days.
Israel has recently started to replace army troops- stationed on the
West Bank to quell the Palestinian uprising - with specially trained
police units.
They contain a large number of non-Muslim Arabs - known as Druses - and
Palestinians complain they are more brutal than the Israelis.
Last night members of the border police carried out a surprise search
of Nahalin.
They returned with soldiers early this morning at around 0330 and
carried out searches of several homes.
Villagers claimed troops and police opened fire without provocation as
they were leaving morning prayers at the mosque.
Inquiry
But the commander of the Israeli forces on the West Bank said troops
had come under attack from about 100 stone-throwing youths.
General Amram Mitzna told reporters: "The company was violently
attacked by youths from the village, and they responded.
"They fired tear gas and rubber bullets and, when their lives were in
danger, live ammunition."
General Mitzna said the police and soldiers had entered the village to
arrest people who persistently stoned the cars of Jewish settlers.
The army has ordered an inquiry into events.
The incident at Nahalin is one of the bloodiest so far in the 17 months
of the uprising against Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza.
The two territories, home to approximately 1.7 million Palestinians,
were captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war.