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Sharon Holds PNA Responsible for Death of Jewish Baby
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Monday evening vowed to hold the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) responsible for the killing of a two-year-old Israeli baby girl in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday afternoon.
The message was released after Sharon convened an emergency security meeting with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and other senior security officials, Israel Radio reported.
The incident took place on the streets in the Jewish settlement of Avraham Avinu in Hebron, some 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem, an official in Israel Defense Forces' spokesman office said earlier.
The girl was in her mother's arms when she was hit in the head by bullets fired by Palestinians from the nearby village of Abu Sanina, but her mother was not injured.
Her father, who was walking home with them, was shot and sustained severe wounds, said the official.
A helicopter was summoned to evacuate the girl to Jerusalem's Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem, but doctors failed to save her life.
Sharon has decided to impose a tight closure on Hebron areas while Jewish settlers on Hebron were gathering at various points nearby to protest the incident.
Shaul Yahalom, a leader of the right-wing National Religious Party, even called on Sharon to order the Israeli army to reenter into the Abu Sanina village.
The incident had led to heavy crossfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the region, the IDF official said.
Under the interim accords between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel has transferred most part of Hebron to the PNA. However, there are still 400 hard-core Jewish settlers living among 120,000 Palestinians in the city.
Since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupted six months ago due to Israeli violation of Islamic holy sites in East Jerusalem, the Hebron area has been a flashpoint of clashes.
More than 430 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in the bloody violence. Some 67 Israelis have also died in the violence.
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