No Good for Samaritans
Sect Synagogue Damaged
by Israeli Gunship Attack
N A B L U S, West Bank, Oct. 31
- A synagogue was damaged in the West Bank
city of Nablus during an attack
by Israeli helicopter gunships on a nearby
building used by the Palestinian
Fatah faction, synagogue officials said.
They said the inside and
outside walls of the 75-year-old synagogue,
which is used by the Samaritan
sect and is next to a Fatah headquarters,
were damaged in the attack late
on Monday.
Two missiles hit the Fatah building in a residential area
of Nablus,
they said.
Three machine gun bullets penetrated
the main wooden gate of the synagogue
and windows were broken.
Saloum al-Kahen, a Samaritan who is in the Palestinian Legislative
Council, condemned the attack and demanded that Israel "stop bombarding
residential areas."
"I was shocked to see the damage
inflicted on the synagogue and other
buildings," Kahen told Reuters.
The 320 Samaritans live in Nablus and in nearby Mount Gerizim, which
they consider a sacred site. They observe some Jewish rituals but do not
regard themselves as Jews.
The army apologized for the damage
to the synagogue.
"We try to minimize as much as possible collateral
damage," spokesman
Colonel Raanan Gissin said. "We regret very
much if some damage was
caused."
Israeli helicopters
attacked three Fatah buildings in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip on Monday.
Fatah is Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's
mainstream faction.
Fatah gunmen had participated in shooting at Israeli troops in unrest
that began on September 28 and in which at least 148 people have been
killed, nearly all of them Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.
Palestinians
reacted with anger and defiance to the Israeli strikes,
describing them
as "aggression against our people."
CNN Journalist Wounded
in Clash
GAZA, Oct. 31 - CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman was shot in
the waist
today during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops
in the
Gaza Strip, a CNN correspondent said.
CNN's Rula Amin said Wedeman, the network's Cairo bureau chief,
had
been taken to a Gaza hospital where he was in stable condition.
An Israeli army spokesman said Wedeman was lightly wounded and
arrangements were being made to transfer him to an Israeli hospital.
Amin said the bullet entered Wedeman's waist just beneath his
armored vest and exited without damaging any bones. It was not
immediately clear if he had been shot at by Israeli soldiers or
Palestinian gunmen.
Israeli soldiers have fired live ammunition
with greater
frequency in the past week, saying they were being shot
at by
Palestinians more often.
- Reuters
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