Divide of hate as families mourn losses

HEBRON - Israelis and Palestinians linked by grief but divided by hate held funerals on opposite sides of the Hebron hills for three Jewish settlers and the three gunmen who ambushed them.

In the Kiryat Arba settlement next to the West Bank city of Hebron, the young son of one of the slain settlers, all members of a rapid-response security squad, sat on his mother's lap gripping a toy pistol as his father was eulogised.

A few kilometres away, Palestinian mourners screamed for revenge as they carried a stretcher bearing the body of a 22-year-old Islamic militant, his shrapnel-sliced face visible under a funeral shroud, towards Hebron's main cemetery.

"O martyr, we will sacrifice our blood by the sword for you," they chanted, thrusting their fists in the air.

The militant, Dyiab al-Mohtaseb, was part of a trio of Palestinians who attacked Israeli forces escorting settlers home from Sabbath prayers, killing nine soldiers and the three security men before they themselves were gunned down.

Among the heavily armed settlers of Kiryat Arba, the talk was of retribution after the ambush, which claimed the life of the settlement's popular security chief, Yitzhak Buenish, 46, a father of seven.

Most voiced disappointment at the Army's initial response - reoccupation of the Palestinian-ruled sector of the divided city, a roundup of dozens of suspects and the demolition of half a dozen homes.

"It's not enough," a 46-year-old settler who identified himself only as Aron said at the funeral for the security men. "The Palestinians won't live with us in peace. The only solution is to send them away from here."

The settlers living on occupied territory in and around Hebron are among the most militant in the West Bank, many driven by the conviction that the land is theirs by biblical birthright.

The international community mostly regards the settlements as illegal, and Palestinians say Israel's refusal to budge on the issue is one of the root causes of their two-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

With emotions running high at Kiryat Arba, Army commanders have expressed concern that settlers will mount vigilante-style attacks on Palestinian civilians as they have in the past.

Some Palestinians said they feared soldiers might mete out harsh treatment to avenge the killing of their comrades.

Among the dead was the Hebron brigade commander, Colonel Dror Weinberg, 38, the highest ranking Israeli officer killed since the Palestinian revolt erupted.

Settlers demanded and received burial with military honours for the security men, who had rushed to the soldiers' aid.

More than 700 people, ringed by guards with assault rifles, wailed in prayer as military pallbearers loaded the coffins into jeeps, which led the funeral procession to a Jerusalem cemetery.

On Hebron's near-deserted streets, some Palestinians who did venture out hailed the attackers as heroes.

About 200 mourners defied a military curfew for two funeral marches that brought the militants' bodies to their graves.

Hebron, divided into Israeli- and Palestinian-run sections under an interim peace deal, has been a frequent flashpoint during the Palestinian revolt.

Together with Kiryat Arba's population of several thousand, about 400 ultra-religious settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the city centre among about 130,000 Palestinians.

- REUTERS

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