Curfew Triggers Confrontation at Hebron Checkpoint

Dozens of Palestinians threw stones and empty bottles at Israeli troops Saturday, who fired several rounds of rubber bullets, slightly injuring one Palestinian in this tense West Bank city.

The clashes were set off when Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinians from crossing into the Israeli-controlled sector of the city, which has been under curfew since late Thursday, after a Jewish settler was stabbed to death in his home by a Palestinian assailant.

Palestinian witnesses said one demonstrator was taken to the hospital after soldiers shot him in the leg with a rubber-coated bullet.

For four hours Saturday, about 60 Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops at a checkpoint that divides the two sectors.

Witnesses said Palestinian police helped break up the disturbance, arresting seven demonstrators and shoving others away from the Israeli-manned checkpoint.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed soldiers had fired several rubber-coated bullets at Palestinian demonstrators.

About 20 Palestinians took to Hebron’s streets Friday, hurling rocks and bottles at soldiers. Palestinian police contained the clashes.

Israeli troops sealed off Hebron on Friday while searching for a suspected Palestinian assailant who stabbed Rabbi Shlomo Raanan, 63, and torched his home.

Israel Radio said the assailant entered Raanan’s caravan through a window armed with a knife and a gasoline bomb. It said Raanan momentarily broke free of his attacker before he was killed and the structure set afire.

Raanan was the third Jewish settler killed by suspected Palestinians in the West Bank in August. Two Jews were shot dead earlier this month outside Yitzhar settlement near the Palestinian-ruled town of Nablus.

Palestinian witnesses said several enraged Jewish settlers took to the streets, hurling stones at Palestinians. They said one 19-year-old Arab youth was taken to Hebron’s Alia Hospital after settlers beat him.

About 20,000 Palestinian residents live in the area of Hebron which is under Israeli control. They are unable to leave their homes and businesses.

Hebron, home to about 500 Jewish settlers and more than 100,000 Palestinians, was divided into Israeli- and Palestinian-ruled sectors last year under an interim peace accord.

The city is often a flash point of violence between extremists on both sides.