Ken Berwitz
“if history is any indication, it means that the Palestinian Arab terrorists have sufficiently re-armed, and are now heading for another confrontation”: Me, yesterday, talking about the sudden explosion of Palestinian Attacks on Israeli Jews – mostly in Jerusalem, but elsewhere in Israel as well.
Israeli fire killed six Palestinians and wounded scores during clashes Friday near Gaza\’s border, the first unrest-related deaths there after days of violence in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, medics said.
The clashes came as Hamas\’ chief in Gaza called violence that has hit the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem an intifada, or uprising, and urged further unrest.
Ahmed al-Hirbawi, Shadi Dawla, Abed al-Wahidi and Nabil Sharaf, all aged 20, were killed when soldiers responded after youths threw stones at them on the Israel side of their common border east of Khan Yunis, Gaza medics said.
Mohammed al-Raqab, 15, and Adnan Abu Alian, 20, were killed in similar clashes east of Gaza City.
Medics said another 80 Palestinians were wounded, 10 of them seriously.
An army spokeswoman said about 200 Palestinians had approached the fence while hurling rocks and rolling burning tires toward security forces.
“Forces on the site responded with fire toward the main instigators to prevent their progress and disperse the riot,” she said.
The spokeswoman confirmed “five hits” without elaborating.
In a sermon for weekly Muslim prayers at a mosque in Gaza City, Hamas\’ Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh said “we are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada.”
“It is the only path that will lead to liberation,” he said. “Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation.”
