Skip to content or view screen version

Jewish Militants Attack Arab Civilians in Hebron in Full View of Soldiers

Bill Krilton | 31.07.2002 22:57

Wednesday, July 31 2002 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM-Israeli occupation soldiers looked on nonchalantly Wednesday as Jewish militants attacked Palestinian civilians and vandalized their property in the heart of the old quarter of Hebron.

Eyewitnesses said Jewish women and youths attacked Palestinian children and women at the Qasaba quarter while Israeli soldiers were looking on.

Earlier this week, Israeli militants in Hebron carried out a wide rampage against Palestinians and their property which culminated in the killing of a 13-year-old Arab girl.

There are about 400 hundred Jewish extremists living in Hebron in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians.

The extremist settlers, many of them immigrants from North America, are viewed by Palestinians and many Israelis as a perpetual source of tension in the city.

In 1994, one of the settlers - a physician trained to heal - attacked Palestinian worshipers inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Old town of Hebron with a machinegun, killing 29 of them and injuring many others before he himself was killed by survivors.

Frightened worshipers rushed out of the mosque to be shot at by Israeli troops. 21 More Palestinians were ten killed.

Most of the settlers in Hebron are affiliated with the messianic Jewish movement known as Gush Eumnim (bloc of the faithful), which advocates the extermination or expulsion of non-Jews from Palestine.

Bill Krilton