Israel, Palestinians blame each other for violence

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) MAY 16. Last night the Israeli Parliament approved the transfer of three villages adjacent to Jerusalem to full Palestinian control. The narrow vote in favour of the land transfer came after hours of rioting and exchanges of fire which are reported to have left five Palestinians dead and over 300 injured. In the surrealism of yesterday's events, which also included protest resignations on either side, it is difficult to make out whether the Israelis and Palestinians are coming or going.

Reports from the area provide different readings of how developments unfolded in large swathes of the Palestinian- controlled areas yesterday. For the Palestinians, yesterday was the day on which they commemorated their ``Nakhba'' (catastrophe) - their expulsion from their home villages on the creation of Israel - and different segments had decided to observe it with silent demonstrations and protest marches. As has usually happened, the protest marches ended with youths pelting Israeli soldiers, patrolling the borders, with stones. Israeli soldiers usually react by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at first but it is not exceptional for them to have stepped up their response and resorted to live rounds in times past.

What precisely happened yesterday in Ramallah is a matter of conflict. Palestinians say that their security forces were trying to control their youths when the Israelis opened fire on Palestinian civilians and security-men alike. The Israelis were said to have used live rounds because they were fired upon by Palestinian civilian snipers.

In any case, say the Palestinians, the Israelis had not been fired upon by the Palestinian security men before they (the Israelis) opened fire on uniformed Palestinians. Not so, say the Israelis. They claim that they were fired upon by Palestinian security men before they themselves opened fire. Whatever the course of this convoluted story the fact is that a fire-fight, lasting for several hours, between the Israeli and Palestinian security forces took place after more than four years. Two Palestinians were killed in the clashes in Ramallah, two others at Nablus and the fifth in another location during the confrontation which spread through most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

On the last occasion when the Israelis and Palestinians had fought each other with automatic weapons, following the opening of a tunnel near the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock complex, there had been intense fears that the confrontation could spin out of control. Yesterday, the response was muted from both sides with Israel defence officials stating that they had spoken to their Palestinian counterparts and had been assured that control would be exercised. Since no clashes anywhere near the same scale took place today, it would appear that the Palestinian security forces are keeping matters under control.

If this sign of co-operation between the Israeli and security forces shows that the peace processes have led to an improvement in the relations between the two, the reaction to an actual and positive development shows that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, yesterday persuaded the Knesset to approve the transfer of three villages adjacent to Jerusalem to full Palestinian control. Among the three villages is Abu Dis which is but a few minutes drive away from the Walled City of Jerusalem and which has been identified as the possible centre of a Palestinian capital. While one party quit Mr. Barak's coalition in protest against the transfer and another has threatened to do so, the Palestinians are not overjoyed at gaining control over three villages which were theirs anyway and which they will never accept as a substitute for Jerusalem.

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Section  : International
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