The
Palestine
Media Center issued the following statement regarding this cold blooded
murder:
Israeli soldiers entered 50-60 meters into Palestinian area and lynched
Shaker Hassoune on January 12, 2001.
Ramallah -- At least two eyewitness
account to the lynching yesterday Friday, January 12, 2001 by Israeli
soldiers in Hebron of Shaker Hassoune, 23-years old- collected by the
Palestine Media Center - PMC, confirmed that Hassoune was lynched inside
the area under Palestinian control (HI).
A cameraman present at the
scene (name withheld, available only upon request and on confidential
basis) who works for an international news agency said in his account of
the shooting the following:
" It was confrontations
as usual, demonstrators throwing rocks from inside H1 (Palestinian area),
and soldiers shooting at demonstrators from inside H2 (area under Israeli
security control), most of the cameramen and the journalists were standing
behind the soldiers, the time was around 2:45 pm. Suddenly we heard
a sound of an explosion followed by several shots, the sound very much
sounded like the sound of a concussion bomb usually thrown by Israeli
soldiers. Neither us, nor the soldiers around us were wounded or hit
by any shrapnel. Soldiers around us immediately started running into
an alley towards the source of the sound. All of the cameramen
present ran following the soldiers. At the entrance to the alley
where other soldiers have already crossed, the cameramen were stopped by
other soldiers and prevented from continuing to pursue the soldiers.
The other end of the alley where the soldiers crossed is a Palestinian
area. The soldiers went into that area as far as 50-60 meters, then
we all heard sounds of several shots. After 2-3 minutes later,
Israeli soldiers shouting and rejoicing came back through the same alley
dragging behind a body of a dead Palestinian, they kept on dragging his
body while rejoicing until they disappeared with the body into the Bet
Hadassah compound. Few minutes later Jewish settlers from Bet
Hadassah, emerged from the compound, they were rejoicing the death of the
young Palestinian. They distributed candy to the Israeli soldiers
and then started dancing in a circle."
Another account given by
another reporter who works for an Arab news channel (name withheld -
available only upon request on confidential bases) present at the scene
confirmed all of the details given in the first account.
The only difference in his
account was that he estimated the distance Israeli soldiers crossed inside
the Palestinian area (H1) at between 40-50 meters.
According to the Protocol
Agreement Concerning Redeployment in Hebron signed on January 15, 1997.
The IDF has no right to a "hot pursuit" of Palestinians inside
the area under Palestinian control designated as "H2".
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