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Middle East
2 Israelis guarding barrier are killed
2003-11-23
Two private Israeli guards at a construction site along Israel’s controversial security barrier were shot dead last night by assailants believed to be Palestinians acting out of "nationalistic" motives, police said.
"nationalistic"? As in kill all Joooos?
Using searchlights and helicopters, Israeli troops and police spent hours scouring the rough, rocky terrain near where the assault took place. No arrests were immediately reported.
proving once again why the fence is such a good idea...regardless of what W says
The Jenin Martyrs Brigade, a militant group believed to be linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement faxed to news media.
That'd be al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, with a false nose and moustache...
The scene of the shooting was on Jerusalem’s outskirts, in the Kidron Valley, a steep ravine that runs between Jerusalem’s Old City and the Mount of Olives. The attack occurred as Israeli and Palestinian officials continued efforts to lay the groundwork for talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qurei. It would be the first meeting between the two leaders since Qureia’s government was sworn in earlier this month. Both sides have signaled they want to try to revive the moribund US-backed peace plan known as the "road map," but each also has expressed deep doubts about whether the other side is prepared to begin talks in good faith.
We can pretty well postulate that one side won't...
Violence also flared yesterday in the West Bank town of Jenin, where Israeli troops shot dead a child stone-thrower, according to Palestinian officials. The army said soldiers had fired at a gunman in the crowd of stone-throwers but had no knowledge of a child’s death.
a stone throwing 10 yr old can kill just as well as an adult. F ’em!
Palestinian witnesses and neighbors identified the child as 10-year-old Ibrahim Jalamna. The two slain Israeli guards were watching over heavy construction equipment being used to build the security barrier, which has drawn harsh criticism from Palestinians and human rights groups. Israel defends the barrier — which is part concrete wall and part electronic fence, bolstered in some sections by trenches and a wide buffer zone — as a necessary bulwark against suicide attackers. Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said the two security guards were in their car when two or three gunmen approached and shot them at close range. The assailants then stole the weapons of the critically wounded guards and fled, he said. Both guards died of their wounds soon afterward, according to Israeli rescue workers. Three other security guards stationed nearby heard the shots and fired toward the assailants as they fled in a car toward the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, but the gunmen apparently escaped unhurt.
Damn. That's too bad.
Most of the completed sections of the barrier are in the northern West Bank, but work has been proceeding rapidly on a separate spur surrounding Jerusalem. Earlier this month, a United Nations report said the 425-mile barrier, if completed under the current route, would expropriate 15 percent of West Bank land and adversely affect 400,000 Palestinians by blocking their access to jobs and services. Last month, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to halt construction, but Israel said the building would continue. Previously, under pressure from the United States, Sharon agreed to leave temporary gaps in the barrier rather than driving deep into the West Bank to enclose several large Jewish settlements.
Posted by:Frank G

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