RAMALLAH, January 29 (JMCC) - The Israeli group Peace Now has called for the immediate disarming of Israeli settlers after two Palestinian boys were shot and killed by settlers in two separate incidents this week.
Yariv Oppenheimer, secretary general of the anti-settlement group, called on the police to “collect most of the weapons held by settlers and act with an iron fist against any trigger-happy citizen who kills Palestinians for no reason”.
Some 300,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank amid two and a half million Palestinians. Most adult males carry army-issued weapons.
Mr Oppenheimer made his call after a 17-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed yesterday by settlers in the village of Khirbet Safa near Hebron.
Settlers claim the clash occurred when a group of Jews hiking in the area were attacked by Palestinian villagers. Palestinian sources blamed the settlers for provoking a clash by descending on the village in large numbers. Israeli troops eventually arrived at the scene to restore order. Two Palestinians were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and one was pronounced brain dead. He later died. The second person was treated for gunshot wounds to the arm.
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