Two international observers killed in West Bank shooting

By Yoav Appel

Associated Press

JERUSALEM – Two observers from an international force in Hebron were shot and killed when Palestinians opened fire on their car in the West Bank on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, the first to die since the force was set up eight years ago.

The observers, serving in the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, were driving on a bypass road used mostly by Jewish settlers when their car came under fire near Halhoul, a West Bank town north of Hebron.

A Norwegian official in the West Bank said the two dead were Turkish and Swiss. Kim Zamder, an official with the peace force, said they were traveling in a clearly marked car that ran into cross fire. A third observer, also Turkish was slightly wounded.

Turkish TV identified the dead Turkish observer as Maj. Cengiz Soytunc. Capt. Huseyin Ozaslah was wounded, the report said. The Swiss observer was not immediately identified.

Although the Israeli military said Palestinian gunmen were to blame, Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu said “it is still not clear who opened fire.”

The force, made up of unarmed observers from Scandinavian and European countries, was set up in 1994 after an Israeli settler massacred 19 Muslim worshippers at a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.

In 1997, Israel and the Palestinians signed an agreement dividing Hebron into Palestinian and Israeli-controlled zones, and TIPH continued its monitoring role.

The city was divided because about 450 Israeli settlers live in three enclaves in the center of the city, among about 130,000 Palestinians. The TIPH observers, recognizable by their white cars, make periodic reports about violations of the truce.

Settlers charge that the observers are biased against them, while Palestinians say that the settlers. among the most militant in the West Bank, constantly harass the local Palestinians.