CPTnet
June 25, 2001
HEBRON: Heavy gunfire erupts
by Anita Fast

At 4:15 pm this afternoon, for the first time in many weeks, gunmen from
the Palestinian nighborhood of Abu Sneineh fired shots at the Israeli
settlement of Avraham Avinu, wounding a 7- year-old Israeli boy who is
currently listed in good condition by Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
Shortly thereafter, shots also wounded four Israeli soldiers at a post near
the settlement. The Hebron settlers reported in their news release that
they returned gunfire into the Abu Sneineh hills, after which the Israeli
military began shooting with machine gun and heavy artillery fire.

Curfew was imposed on the Palestinian population of Hebron's old city
immediately.

CPters could hear gun and heavy artillery fire being shot by the Israeli
military into the Baab iZawiyye neighborhood, the commercial center of the
Palestinian controlled part of Hebron, as well as the Abu Sneineh
residential neighborhood for over four hours. CPTers Greg Rollins and Anita
Fast phoned friends living in each of these neighborhoods and were told that
while Palestinians continued to fire individual shots from Abu Sneineh
toward an army post on a distant hilltop, no Palestinian gunfire was heard
coming from Baab iZawiyye. A friend from Abu Sneineh reported to Fast that
settlers attempted to get up into the neighborhood but soldiers stopped
them. She also said that a Palestinian man was injured while walking in the
streets of Abu Sneineh when the gunfire began.

Israeli news sources reported that Palestinian Authority officials have
evacuated their building in Hebron in fear of an Israeli airstrike against
their headquarters. Israeli news also reported that the entire city of
Hebron has been put under full closure and that Israeli settlers have begun
to patrol the bypass road between Hebron and Bethlehem with the Israeli
military welcoming their assistance.