Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian in Gaza Protest : Mideast: 43 others are wounded as Arabs take to the streets, angered by the death of a jailed activist.
JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian protester Saturday and wounded at least 43 others who took to the streets with stones in the occupied Gaza Strip to protest the death of an activist in jail.
A wave of street unrest has continued with few breaks since Oct. 8, when police in Jerusalem shot to death 20 Arab rioters at the Temple Mount, known as Haram al Sharif (noble sanctuary) to Muslims.
Since then, at least a dozen Palestinians have been fatally shot by police and soldiers, and three Israelis died in a knife attack in Jerusalem.
The steady toll of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip appears to put a major dent in tactics designed by Defense Minister Moshe Arens to reduce Palestinian casualties and dilute criticism of Israel’s handling of the Arab uprising, which is nearing its third anniversary.
The fatality in Gaza and the heavy toll of wounded Saturday came two days after U.N. General Secretary Javier Perez de Cuellar called for the 164 nations that signed the Fourth Geneva Convention to meet and discuss how to protect Palestinians living under Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as in annexed Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Several provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel is pledged to uphold, apply to the security of civilians in time of war.
Israel rejects U.N. intervention on the grounds that it throws into question its sovereignty over Jerusalem and its claim to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel is “doing everything†to ensure the safety of Palestinians, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir told an Israeli newspaper.
“If there is any lack of security, it derives from the violent activities of the Arabs against Israelis and their own brethren,†said the spokesman, Yossi Ahimeir, in the Davar newspaper.
In the Gaza Strip on Saturday, residents of the Beit Hanoun refugee camp poured into the streets when word spread that Attiyeh Zanin, a detained uprising activist, had died in prison. Zanin was suspected of belonging to the outlawed Palestine Liberation Organization. Police told his family that the prisoner, who was jailed two weeks ago, hung himself Friday with a noose made from strips of a blanket.
His family demanded an independent autopsy. Four Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip jail while under interrogation. Three were reportedly suicides, and one died from blows to the stomach. Under government guidelines, Israeli police and domestic intelligence agents are permitted to use “limited†physical pressure on inmates during interrogation. Critics say the guidelines sanction torture.
In Beit Hanoun, enraged groups of young men and boys stoned army patrols, which responded by firing rubber-coated metal pellets and regular lead-tipped bullets. The fatality, a 36-year-old man, was shot in the head.
Unrest spread to other towns and refugee camps in the crowded Gaza Strip. Police beat back rioters with tear gas and rifle fire, witnesses said. They also used an automatic gravel thrower to clear the streets. Among the injured hit by the mechanically flung stones was a 4-year-old boy, who was knocked unconscious and taken to a Tel Aviv hospital.
Palestinian hospital officials said 113 people were wounded; the army put the figure at 43.
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