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4 Palestinians, Including Girl, 10, Are Slain in West Bank
By GREG MYRE

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/middleeast/25CND-MIDE.html?ex=1049259600&en=1028...

JERUSALEM, March 25 — Israeli undercover forces, ambushed in Bethlehem, shot dead two Palestinian gunmen and a 10-year-old girl who was riding in a car that apparently blundered into the gun battle, Palestinians and news reports said today. Soldiers also killed a 14-year-old boy in a separate West Bank shooting.

The four Palestinian deaths shattered a brief period of relative calm in the region, where attention has been focused on the American-led war in Iraq. Until today, Israeli-Palestinian fighting had resulted in only one death since the Iraq war began last Thursday.

In the Bethlehem battle, plainclothes Israeli forces were searching for militants from the Hamas movement when they came under fire near the center of town and shot back, killing two gunmen in a car, Israel radio reported.

A moment later, a second Palestinian car approached and the Israeli troops, apparently fearing that it was part of the attack, opened fire, the radio reported. The 10-year-old girl was killed, and her parents and a teenage sister were wounded, Palestinian witnesses said.

The girl's father was in serious condition with a neck wound, while her mother and sister were slightly wounded, according to Hadassah Hospital, in nearby Jerusalem. The Israeli military said it was investigating and had no immediate comment.

In Jenin, in the northern West Bank, Israeli forces shot two youths who had climbed aboard an armored personnel carrier and were trying to steal a machine gun, the army said. The two were taken away by Palestinian ambulances, the army added.

Palestinian witnesses asserted that the two boys were throwing stones, and were not on the vehicle when they were shot. One of the boys, Haqam Nassar, 14, was shot in the abdomen and died of his wounds, while the second boy, age 12, was wounded in the leg, the Palestinians said.

In a similar incident a day earlier in Jenin, Israeli forces shot two youths who officials said had jumped on an armored vehicle. A 14-year-old boy was killed and another 14-year-old was shot in the leg, Palestinians said.

The military also said today that it arrested 21 Palestinian militants overnight in the West Bank. The army remains in and around most Palestinian cities in the West Bank and has been making arrests nightly.

Israelis and Palestinians have nonetheless given indications that they would like to ease tensions while the Iraq war is under way.

Israel believes the demise of Saddam Hussein would remove one of its most serious threats, and it wants to keep attention directed at that conflict. Israel also wants to avoid being drawn into the Iraq war or having its feud with the Palestinians linked to that battle.

Palestinians have expressed concern that Israel will use the Iraq war as cover to impose a host of harsh measures on them.

Elsewhere, an Israeli military court sentenced three Palestinians to life prison terms after they were convicted of involvement in multiple attacks. The three belonged to the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a militia loosely linked to the Fatah movement of Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

The brigades' leader, Muhammad Mazlah, was convicted of taking part in the mob killing of two Israeli soldiers who had lost their way and entered the West Bank town of Ramallah in October 2000. The two soldiers were taken to a Palestinian police station, where a mob stormed inside and killed them.