Israelis Kill Two Youths as Protesters Go on Rampage

Israeli soldiers today fatally shot two Palestinian youths and wounded at least five in the West Bank. An Arab news report said troops then clubbed doctors and nurses at the hospital where the wounded were taken.

The army said soldiers were attacked by hundreds of demonstrators who rioted in the narrow streets of the Casbah Arab market in Nablus after noon prayers. A spokeswoman said protesters threw firebombs, stones and bottles at soldiers and kept coming, even after the army fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Arrested in Hospital

The Arab-run Palestine Press Service said the shootings occurred after a demonstration outside the Nasr Mosque in Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank with a population of 120,000. The agency said soldiers later entered Al Ittihad Hospital, arrested three of the injured and struck doctors and nurses with clubs.

The army said it was checking a report from officials at Al Ittihad Hospital that soldiers fired warning shots inside the hospital.

The news agency identified the victims as Basil Taysir Jatan, 14, who was shot in the head and Bashar Masri, 17, who was shot in the chest.

It said 17 Arabs were injured, four by gunshots, 12 by beatings and one by a rubber bullet. Hospital officials initially said 10 gunshot victims were treated.

Two army jeeps blocked entrances to Al Ittihad hospital, and soldiers refused to allow reporters inside, according to an Associated Press correspondent on the scene.

She said a protest broke out in a hillside neighborhood of Nablus after the funeral for Masri, who was buried immediately in accordance with Muslim tradition.

Protesters overturned dumpsters and used large rusty tin cans and twisted pieces of metal to make barricades.

Army helicopters circled overhead and Arab youths burned tires. Bursts of gunfire could be heard, apparently warning shots from soldiers.

The deaths today brought to 54 the number of Arabs killed since unrest began Dec. 8 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War.

Argued Over U.S. Plan

The upsurge of violence came as Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres argued today over a U.S. peace initiative calling for Palestinian elections in the occupied lands this year.

In stinging criticism of his political rival, Shamir told Israel radio that Peres had “surrendered everything” and undercut his bargaining power by leaking details of the U.S. proposals.

A Peres aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “We think that Mr. Shamir’s comments are not worthy of a prime minister.”

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