The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.12           March 30, 1998 
 
 
Protests Explode In West Bank After Israeli Troops Kill Palestinian Workers  

BY HILDA CUZCO
Thousands of angry Palestinians have taken to the streets throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a wave of protests sparked by the killing of three Palestinians by Israeli soldiers March 10.

The soldiers shot into a van full of construction workers as they were returning home from their jobs in Israel through an army checkpoint at Hebron. Two soldiers were initially arrested, but they were rapidly freed. Israeli Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan said the soldiers "acted according to army regulations," claiming the van had attempted to run over another soldier. The army has since dropped this assertion, but maintains the soldiers acted correctly.

Palestinian security officer Lafi Ghais, who witnessed the shooting, told a Reuters reporter that the Israeli soldiers never ordered the van to stop. Instead, "all of sudden all we heard was shooting from three automatic weapons."

The shooting ignited a wave of outrage. In the town of Dura, where the workers lived, the three were given a martyrs' burial while protests continued flaring. Palestinian youths targeted the soldiers with Molotov cocktails and rocks; the troops responded with both live and plastic-coated bullets, injuring at least 35 Palestinians according to hospital workers.

In an unusual attempt to defuse the situation, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on Arabic-language Israeli television March 12 and called the shooting a "tragic mistake." Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, also tried to cool down the response, telling reporters in Gaza that the killings should "not affect the peace process."

"We feel the peace process is over, and we are beginning a new uprising," said 19-year-old Ibrahim Jaberi, who marched in Nablus along with thousands of others.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are discussing a negotiating proposal for the stalled "peace" talks that would include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from 13 percent of the West Bank in the next three months, provided the Palestinian Authority crack down on groups fighting for Palestinian self-determination.

In the hopes to play a more active role in the talks, British foreign secretary Robin Cook - also representing the UK presidency of the European Union - visited Israel and the Palestinian Authority in mid- March. Netanyahu, who opposes any European involvement in the talks, shortened his meeting and canceled a dinner with Cook for supposedly showing too much favor to Palestinian officials.  
 
 
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