World

West Bank Clashes Heat Up

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 12, 2001 / 7:36 AM EST / CBS

Palestinians protesting Israel's chokehold on West Bank towns briefly overran a roadblock Wednesday, as criticism of Israel's closure tactics mounted.

Meeting for the first time since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office last week, the security Cabinet decided to ease restrictions which have prevented Palestinians from traveling between their patchwork of autonomous zones in the West Bank and Gaza and have paralyzed their economy. But on the ground, the death toll continued to rise.

In Gaza, a Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces. Palestinians said the shooting was unprovoked. The Israeli military said the young Palestinian ran toward a military post, carrying a metal object, and refused orders to halt. Soldiers fired warning shots and he ran back, the military said.

In the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinians charged that a woman died after Israel refused to let a car pass a roadblock and take her to a hospital. The Israeli military said soldiers offered to open a barrier that was closed by Palestinian demonstrators, but the driver refused.

Reuters

A Palestinian argues across barbed wire with an Israeli soldier

Palestinians also said a man died of a heart attack after Israeli soldiers refused to let a car take him to a hospital in the West Bank town of Nablus Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the incident.

To date, 426 people have died in nearly six months of fighting, including 350 Palestinians, 57 Israeli Jews and 19 others.

Israel claims the recent days' unusually tight closure of Ramallah, a political and commercial center, was intended to prevent specific terrorist attacks being planned there. The strategy has sparked a lively debate within Israel, with critics arguing that collective measures only radicalize ordinary Palestinians and increase support for violence.

A statement after the security Cabinet session said efforts would be made to differentiate between the civilian Palestinian population and "those who engage in terrorism." The security Cabinet decided to allow raw materials into the Palestinian territories and allow freedom of movement "dependent on security considerations."

The statement charged that Yasser Arafat's "Palestinian Authority is intensively engaged in terrorism, violence and incitement."

Earlier, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer noted Israel had already relaxed the blockade of four towns Tuesday.

"I am going to act to open everything — all of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip,"told parliament.

At the same time, he said, Israel would fight "a war to the bitter end against the terrorists and those who send them" — and Palestinians would still not be allowed into Israel, meaning continued unemployment for more than 100,000 people who used to work in the Jewish state.

Around Ramallah, frustration spilled over into angry protest.

When hundreds converged on an Israeli roadblock from two directions, the soldiers withdrew to a nearby hill. The protesters planted Palestinian flags on the site as tractors filled in a trench the Israelis had dug across the road and reopened it to traffic. The Israelis then retook the position, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets to disperse the Palestinians.

Taking part in the demonstration, Zahava Galon, a lawmaker from the dovish Israeli party Meretz, said that trapping tens of thousands of civilians is unjustified. "I just saw a doctor stuck here for hours," she said.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also appealed for an end to the closure, saying Israel is "responsible for the well-being of the Palestinian residents" there because of the control it still exerts in the West Bank.

Israeli officials have claimed a band of militants in Ramallah had been planning a car bomb attack in Jerusalem. Israeli military officers, insisting on anonymity, said more than two dozen militants were involved.

Brig. Gen. Benny Gantz, commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, said they included members of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian security, and called for their arrest.

Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian security in the West Bank, rejected the claim and said Israel was using "lies to escalate" the conflict.

Israel's Supreme Court Wednesday rejected an appeal by an Israeli Arab against a government decision to imprison him without trial for six months due to unspecified security concerns. The court rejected a claim that Ghassan a-Tamla was arrested for political reasons.

Detention without trial has been used against Palestinians — but rarely against Israeli citizens.