Jewish Settler Is Stabbed, Then Wounds His Attacker

A Palestinian stabbed an American-born Jewish settler in the back Friday in the occupied West Bank, and the bleeding man chased his assailant and shot him before collapsing, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

Both men were hospitalized in fair condition. Some Jewish settlers demanded revenge, and the wounded settler blamed American inaction against Arab unrest for the attack.

The stabbing victim, Yona Haikin, was attacked while shopping before the Jewish Sabbath in Hebron, about 20 miles south of Jerusalem. The 35-year-old computer programmer from Boston suffered wounds in the shoulder and lower back.

Traps, Shoots Attacker

Haikin then fired on his attacker but missed and chased him for more than 50 yards before trapping him at a roadblock and shooting him in the stomach, said Zev Hever, a Jewish leader in Hebron.

Haikin ran another 300 yards to a building housing Jewish families, where he collapsed and received first aid before being flown by helicopter to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, Hever said.

Haikin lives in Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement near Hebron. He came to Israel four years ago.

Active in JDL

Haikin is active in the militant Jewish Defense League and the Kach movement, said Rabbi Meir Kahane, the right-wing Kach leader who has called for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories.

“My injury is the direct result of American pressure on Israel not to take stronger steps against the Arab rioters,” Haikin told reporters as he was moved from the emergency room.

The wounded Palestinian was identified by officials at Hebron’s Alia Hospital as Abdel Majid Sharawneh, 22, from the village of Dura.

In Nablus, 40 miles north of Jerusalem, the car of a Jewish settler was stoned as he drove past the central Mazuz Masri Mosque shortly after noon prayers, the army and an Arab witness said.

The army said the settler got out of his car and fired an Uzi submachine gun and that a female passenger also opened fire. Arab witnesses said Palestinians threw more stones as well as watermelons and shoes.

Soldiers who arrived on the scene put the city of 100,000 Arabs under curfew and dispersed the crowd by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, which injured six Arabs, the army said.

Curfew Imposed

In the Gaza Strip, the army clamped a curfew on the 41,000 residents of Shati refugee camp to prevent expected violence, while at at the Bureij camp, foreign relief workers expressed concern about food and water supplies.

The 20,000 residents of Bureij ran short on necessities during the 15 days, ending on Thursday, that they were under total curfew, the workers said. The curfew now is lifted daily but only from 3 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“There was no electricity during the whole time of the curfew, food stocks got very short, and the water supply was very intermittent,” a senior foreign relief worker said.

Also Friday, the army freed 89 Palestinians jailed for taking part in anti-Israel disturbances in a move intended to reward Arabs for good behavior. The army decision drew criticism from some Jewish leaders.