Israeli Soldiers Open Fire on West Bank Rioters, Wound 17

In one of the worst outbreaks of violence since Palestinian self-rule began in Jericho and the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers wounded 17 Palestinian rioters who attacked a police station Wednesday.

The violence came one day after undercover police officers killed two Islamic militants. At Wednesday’s funeral of one of the victims, a senior Palestinian official said such killings made it difficult to drum up support for continued peace talks with Israel.

Israeli sources said rioters attacked the Israeli police station in Ramallah, a town of 30,000 people that is not in the self-rule zone, early Wednesday morning. Soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas, they said.

But doctors at the emergency room in Ramallah Hospital told reporters that some of the 17 Palestinians admitted for treatment had been hit with live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets.

They said four had chest or neck wounds from regular bullets and one was in critical condition.

Witnesses said the soldiers seemed to be particularly rough in trying to quell the disturbances, aiming for the chests of the 150 youths heaving rocks and bottles.

Ramallah is near Al Ram, where security forces shot and killed two members of Hamas, a Muslim extremist group, as they were getting off a bus Tuesday. Hamas opposes the autonomy agreement, which took effect May 18.

The rioters Wednesday were from many political factions.

One of the Hamas activists slain Tuesday was wanted in the killing of a Shin Bet secret service agent in February.

Palestinians said Israeli agents disguised as vegetable vendors called the two men off a bus at a stop, then shot them without warning. The army refused to comment.

The shootings ignited violent protests in Al Ram. Activists took to the streets, burning tires. Stones were thrown and troops opened fire, wounding four Palestinian protesters, Palestinians said.

Street battles, which occurred almost daily during the six-year Palestinian uprising, virtually stopped after Israeli forces withdrew from Arab-populated areas of Gaza and from Jericho.

Israeli security forces, however, have continued ferreting out Islamic militants who oppose the Israel-PLO accord.

At Wednesday’s funeral, a mourning relative who is also a Palestine Liberation Organization brigadier said, “We don’t have any other chance but to keep peace and to commit ourselves to an agreement.”

But the killings “make it difficult for me to convince my family to support peace,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.