A Palestinian young man was shot dead by the Israeli forces in the West Bank City of Nablus on Friday afternoon as Palestinians were demonstrating to mark the anniversary of Land Day, according to Al Jazira satellite Channel.
AFP later identified the martyr as Ayesh Mustafa Zaamel, 19, who was shot in the head.
Earlier, another Palestinian youngster was killed by Israeli fire during clashes near the West Bank city of Ramallah amid simultaneous Arab protests in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said AFP.
Israeli security forces had been on alert to deal with potential violence over two issues -- the 25th anniversary of the killing of Arab Israeli protesters and another "day of rage" to protest the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Mohammed el-Wawawi, 21, was hit in the head with a live bullet, and more than 11 others were injured when the Israeli army broke up a demonstration on the weekly Palestinian day of rage that included sporadic exchanges of gunfire.
Two Palestinians were injured in similar circumstances in the West Bank town of Hebron.
In the Gaza Strip, Several thousand Palestinians demonstrated and threatened Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "burn the earth under his feet" if he invades the autonomous Palestinian territories, said AFP.
More than 3,000 Palestinians demonstrated in the center of Gaza City, led by dozens of armed members of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fateh faction and members of the Islamist movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"We will burn the earth under Sharon's feet if he attempts to invest our territories", said a masked protestor, adding that "Gaza City would become Sharon's grave if he dares to set foot there".
The spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance movement Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, surrounded by armed bodyguards, took part in a procession which started in the al-Shatti refugee camp before joining the other demonstrators in Gaza City.
More than 2,000 Palestinians also demonstrated in the Nusseirat refugee camp south of Gaza City, torching Israeli and US flags.
Meanwhile, in east Jerusalem, stones were thrown at Jews near the Wailing Wall following weekly Muslim prayers in the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque compound, said AFP.
There were also demonstrations, mainly in northern Israel, to mark Land Day, which commemorates the death of six Israeli Arabs killed in 1976 by the army during demonstrations over land confiscations.
Following a call for calm by a senior Arab Israeli earlier Friday, the demonstrations were generally peaceful.
AFP also reported Friday that Around 6,000 people demonstrated against US interests in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on the anniversary.
They set out by torching an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and pledged to "strike at the interests of the United States,” Israel's main political and military ally.
"America and Zionism will soon feel our people's determination to recover their rights and their freedom," Ossama Saad, vice president of the pro-Palestinian Nasserite Popular Organization, told the protesters.
He exhorted the Palestinian people "to recover by force what was taken from them by force".
"Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest). America is the biggest Satan," the protesters said in unison.
They also held portraits of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who put an end to decades of strained relations between their leaderships at a historic meeting Tuesday in Amman on the sidelines of an Arab summit.
"Bashar, ignite the fire," they chanted, urging Assad to give his full support to the Palestinians in their fight against their common enemy, Israel.
PALESTINIANS ACCUSE WASHINGTON OF "PROTECTING ISRAELI OCCUPATION
The agency reported that a high-ranking Palestinian official accused the United States Friday of providing "protection for Israeli occupation" of the Palestinian territories after Washington called on Arafat to put an end to the violence.
"It seems Washington has decided to provide protection for the occupier, that is to say Israel, and to disregard the right to an international protection force for the Palestinian people under occupation", Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told Cairo radio.
Arafat's top negotiator made these remarks three days after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for sending an international protection force to the occupied territories.
Erakat said it proved the United States "does not take Arabs and the position of Arab countries seriously.
"I fear the US veto might have given the green light for an escalation of Israeli violence against the Palestinians,” he said.
CHINA CONDEMNS ISRAEL'S ATTACK AGAINST PALESTINIANS
China took a supportive stand of the Palestinians as it on Friday condemned on Friday Israel for attacking Palestinians with heavy weaponry, state media reported.
"We are deeply concerned about and condemn Israel's attack on Palestine with heavy weaponry, which killed Palestinian civilians," the official Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi saying.
"Violence can only deepen hatred and mistrust, which is unfavorable to the political settlement to the conflicts between Israel and Palestine," he said.
The spokesman appealed to the two sides to exercise restraint and prevent the situation from worsening, in order to create conditions to enable the resumption of the peace process, Xinhua said.
On Thursday, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian teenagers as fierce clashes erupted in the Gaza Strip a day after Israeli helicopter gunships blasted bases of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force 17.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat vowed Thursday that the six-month-old Intifada, or uprising, against Israel would continue until there was a Palestinian state.
The EU also called for restraint of violence in a statement Friday.
YOSSI SARID CALLS FOR EVACUATING JEWS FROM HEBRON
Israel’s Meretz party Chairman Yossi Sarid has called for the immediate evacuation of Jewish settlers from Hebron, reported Haaretz on Friday.
“People that bite the hand that protects them, the hand of police officers and soldiers, cannot be considered balanced or normal people. Whoever does not evacuate the Jews from there is bringing danger on himself, not just in the territories but in the entire region,” Sarid said in comment of clashes between the settlers and Israeli police who tried to prevent them Friday from attacking Palestinians in the West Bank city.
Settlers have torched shops and attacked people in Abu Snaina neighborhood, which overlooks the settlement enclave where 400 Jews live. The latest attacks by the army and the settlers came in retaliation of killing a 10-month baby girl, reportedly bu a Palestinian sniper, who injured her father.
According to Haaretz, the settlers claimed that the confrontations between Jews and members of the Israeli security service were the result of excessive force displayed by the special police unit in Hebron.
Earlier, the paper quoted Israeli President Moshe Katsav as condemning “a small group of Jews in Hebron” for hurting Arabs and Israeli security forces. Haaretz quoted an Israel Radio report as saying Katsav called on this group to stop their actions and to leave matters of security to the security forces.
A police officer suffered a concussion Thursday night following a confrontation with settlers who had attempted to damage a solar-powered boiler belonging to an Arab home. Tens of settlers engaged in a confrontation with police officers – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
