WEST BANK: RAMALLAH/NABLUS: FUNERALS
(21 Oct 2000) English/Nat In Ramallah on Saturday, the funeral took place of yet another victim of the recent cycle of violence - 17 year old Thaer Mahmud Ali. Masked gunmen marched with the mourners firing automatic weapons in the air. The head of Arafat's main Fatah faction and Tanzim (military wing) leader Marwan Barghouti said that the Palestinian people would not be intimidated by Israel and Barak's threats. He called upon the Arab leaders at the Arab League summit to back the Palestinian cause and help them in their fight for independence. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well the Palestinian people will not be afraid when Barak threatens etcetera. I hope that the Arab summit in Cairo will take an important and essential decision to support the Palestinian peaceful intifada, and the Palestinian struggle until the sovereignty and the independence." SUPER CAPTION: Marwan Barghouti, Head of Arafat's main Fatah faction and Tanzim (military wing) leader Led by masked gunmen, tens of thousands of Palestinians on Saturday marched behind the flag-draped bodies of four members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement killed in a fire fight with Israeli troops in Nablus a day earlier. The funeral procession slowly wound its way through the streets of the West Bank city. A lead truck carried masked militiamen hoisting their assault rifles. Many mourners carried flags of Arab countries, in an appeal for support from the Arab summit in Cairo. "Oh Arabs, pay attention, the Palestinians are getting killed," the crowd chanted. In all, nine Palestinians were killed and 103 injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers on Friday, the deadliest day in two weeks. Three weeks of fighting have left 113 people dead, most of them Palestinians. The fiercest battle erupted south of Nablus, where Fatah militiamen opened fire on Israeli troops just moments after an Israeli deadline for a U.S.-brokered truce expired. In an intense 10-minute exchange of fire, four Palestinians were killed and 27 wounded. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
