Israeli Troops in Gaza Wound 5 Palestinians

Israeli troops shot and wounded five Palestinians in disturbances Saturday in the occupied Gaza Strip, and they beat reporters and photographers covering the incident.

The troops arrested two youths in Palestine Square in central Gaza City after an army patrol had been stoned and hit with a firebomb.

The mother of one of the youths grabbed a chair from a cafe and attacked a soldier, beating him on the head with the chair and screaming, “My son, my son!”

The soldier opened fire, but the youth’s mother wasn’t injured. Hospital officials said five people were treated for bullet wounds.

An army officer identifying himself only as Camille told eight journalists who were sitting in the cafe observing the incident to get out, saying the area was a closed military zone.

Soldiers under Camille’s command beat the journalists with rifle butts. They briefly detained a cameraman and confiscated the identity cards of all the journalists.

The journalists later recovered their cards from Gaza police. Palestinians traveling in the occupied lands without identity cards are subject to arrest.

The army spokesman’s office confirmed the events. The spokesman, who cannot be identified under military regulations, said the disturbances justified closing the area to journalists. He said the journalists resisted leaving, which is why their identity cards were confiscated.

The journalists did not resist but rather were beaten as they were told to leave.

In Nablus in the occupied West Bank, celebrants shooting in the air slightly injured three Palestinians during festivities commemorating the founding of Fatah, Yasser Arafat’s mainstream wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on Jan. 1, 1965.

Witnesses said 6,000 celebrants followed a marching band from central Nablus to An-Najah University campus, where masked men shot in the air, wounding three observers who were standing near upper-floor windows.

It was the first time since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in December, 1987, that Fatah marked the day with celebrations and not a strike, reflecting the new atmosphere following the Sept. 13 Israel-PLO accord.

But that atmosphere has been marred by Israel’s missing a Dec. 13 deadline to pull out of Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho as part of the accord.