Two observers from an international force in Hebron were shot and killed when Palestinians opened fire on their car in the West Bank, the Israeli military said. The two were the first members of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron to be killed in the West Bank. A Norwegian official in the West Bank said the men were Turkish and Swiss. A third observer was slightly wounded. The observers were driving on a bypass road used mostly by Jewish settlers when their car came under fire near Halhoul, a West Bank town north of Hebron. The observer force, made up of unarmed observers from Scandinavian and European countries, was set up under a 1997 agreement dividing Hebron into Palestinian- and Israeli-controlled zones.
"With trust between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government at an all-time low, Arafat called for the deployment of international observers." The ones we sent you aren't all dead yet.
CNN says both observers were Norwegian. |