Israelis Kill 3 Palestinians
Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday on a van carrying Palestinian workers at a West Bank roadblock, killing three passengers and wounding at least four others.
The Israeli army arrested two soldiers who fired at the van and began an investigation into the incident, which Palestinian Authority Secretary-General Atayeb Abdel Rahim called “a new Israeli massacre.”
An Israeli soldier was slightly injured after what the army said was an attempt by the van to run the roadblock. Palestinian witnesses and Israeli reports said the driver had apparently veered off the road. One Palestinian passenger said the soldiers opened fire after the van accelerated to keep another car from cutting in line at the roadblock.
As news of the incident spread, protests erupted in nearby Hebron, where dozens of Palestinians threw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. Hebron, home to 130,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers, is one of the tensest spots in the West Bank.
The shooting came at a time when Palestinian anger is running high over the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
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