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Palestinian Boy, Policeman Killed in Clashes in West Bank, Gaza
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy and a Palestinian policeman were killed Monday in street battles with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Palestinian and Israeli leaders are in Egypt for a summit aimed to bring an end to the 19-day-old violent clashes between the two sides.
Clashes flared anew Monday, after three days of relative calm, in the West Bank towns of Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Hebron where the Palestinians tossed stones and fire-bombs at the Israeli soldiers who responded with rubber-coated and live bullets and tear gas.
The 13-year-old died after being shot in the head near the Bethlehem entrance where Israeli soldiers and armed Palestinians exchanged fire, according to eye-witnesses.
Palestinian medical sources put the figure of injuries to over 60 people in West Bank Monday afternoon.
In the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, near the borders with Egypt, a Palestinian policeman was killed and several others wounded in a shoot-out between the Palestinians and Israeli forces.
According to Voice of Palestine radio on Monday, a policeman fired at an Israeli patrol wagon near the Jewish Kush Katif settlement in central Gaza Strip and the patrolling soldiers fired in retaliation, yet no casualties were reported.
Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated Monday throughout the territories rapping Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's participation in the ongoing summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh which brings him face to face with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
The United States President Bill Clinton, Jordan's King Abdullah II, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana are also attending the summit together with host Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
More than 100 Palestinians were killed and over 3,000 others were wounded in the bloody Palestinian-Israeli clashes which broke out in the wake of Israeli right-wing opposition Likud leader Ariel Sharon's visit to a disputed holy site in East Jerusalem on September 28.
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