DATE=09/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS (L update)
NUMBER=2-267293
BYLINE=ROSS DUNN
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// Re-running w/update info in introduction ///
/// EDS: UPDATES INTRO WITH LATEST INFO ON THE DEATH TOLL FROM SATURDAY'S CLASHES. PLEASE WATCH THE CN WIRE FOR FURTHER UPDATES OF THE NUMBER KILLED ///
INTRO: At least 12 more Palestinians have been killed in bloody clashes with Isreali forces. Hundreds more are reported injured in the unrest, which has flaired for three days, and a ceasire has been declared. Ross Dunn reports from Jerusalem that the violence follows the shooting of Palestinians at a site in Jerusalem which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
TEXT: The worst clashes Saturday erupted south of Nablus in the West Bank, where thousands of angry Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli troops.
Initially, the soldiers responded with tear-gas and rubber-coated metal bullets.
But when they said they were fired upon with M-16 assault rifles by about a dozen masked Palestinians, who crouched behind walls and trees, Israeli troops then fired back with live ammunition. The ensuing gun battle lasted nearly an hour.
The Israeli Army says it also used live sniper fire in the Gaza Strip against Palestinians it said were "endangering soldiers". Some reports said the clash was between Israel soldiers and Palestinian police.
The fresh round of violence was touched off when Israeli riot police stormed the Haram Sharif Islamic compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City on Friday.
The Palestinian Authority has called a day of mourning and a general strike in memory those killed by Israeli police, and to protest the earlier appearance of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon at the site. Mr. Sharon is a figure of hatred for many Palestinians.
The area is also sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount, the site of their holy temples in biblical times.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says that he will never bow to the Palestinians demand for Israel to give up political sovereignty over the shrine. (signed)
NEB/RD/DW/KBK
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