Settlers shot at; Israel retaliates

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), JULY 12. Israeli tanks fired shells at a Palestinian police station in Nablus after gun men shot at four Jewish West Bank settlers. One policemen was reported to have been wounded in the Israeli attack and two of the settlers were in a serious condition.

Today's incidents denote a spurt in the violence though there has been violence on a daily basis even after the two sides announced they had accepted a cease-fire at the beginning of the month.

A settler family was shot at outside the West Bank town of Nablus while they were on the road. The man was said to be in serious condition while his wife and child suffered minor injuries. Another settler was shot elsewhere in the West Bank. Besides the retaliatory fire from the Israeli army, settlers were also said to have gone on the rampage and demolished houses and set fire to olive groves in a Palestinian village. There have been deaths on the Palestinian side as well over the last couple of days including a boy who was shot while playing in the Gaza Strip and a woman who was shot when the taxi in which she was travelling failed to stop at a check-post.

Today's incidents are bound to raise questions on whether the cease-fire will hold and is also certain to provoke strong rhetoric from both camps. In fact, it is hardly possible to say that there is a cease-fire when violent incidents occur every day. But the situation has definitely become much quieter since the announcements about the cease-fire with the daily confrontations taking place at scattered points instead of being generalised as it was in the nine months of the Palestinian uprising.

One weak point in the cease-fire arrangement is that the Palestinians cannot view the settlers but as occupiers who perpetrate violence by their very presence in the West Bank.

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Section  : International
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