Israeli troops at the Kalandia roadblock north of Jerusalem last night fired toward the car of Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala). Palestinian sources said seven bullets hit the car, a charge the IDF denied. No one was hurt in the incident. Abu Ala was traveling from Ramallah, where he met with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, to his home in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem. His journey was reportedly coordinated in advance with Israeli officials, but reserve soldiers stationed at Kalandia apparently were not informed of his impending arrival.

Abu Ala's car arrived at the roadblock at high speed. The soldiers, fearing that the car was about to hit them or was being driven by terrorists, opened fire. The IDF Spokesman said the soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but Palestinian sources claimed the gunfire was directed at the car. The Spokesman denied that Abu Ala's bulletproofed car was hit, and said that Palestinian district liaison officials confirmed this version of the incident. But Palestinian witnesses said that seven bullets hit the car.

"From an initial investigation, it appears that the soldiers did not identify the vehicle, and didn't know it belonged to Abu Ala, whose passage was coordinated in advance," an official army statement said. "The IDF expresses regret for this incident and will continue to investigate the circumstances that led to it."

Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres personally called Abu Ala last night to apologize. "You are the last person that someone in Israel would want to shoot," Peres told him. Peres and Abu Ala have met repeatedly in recent months to formulate the so-called "Peres-Abu Ala plan" for an interim peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The shooting attack on Abu Ala's car was the third incident since the start of the Intifada in which Israeli forces fired at senior Palestinian officials. In April last year, Israeli troops opened fire at a convoy of Palestinian vehicles near the Erez Crossing. Palestinian Intelligence Chief Amin al-Hindi and Gaza Strip Preventive Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan, who were returning from security coordination talks with Israeli officers, charged that Israel had attempted to assassinate them.

In May 2001, Israeli tanks fired at the Ramallah home of West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jabril Rajoub, injuring five of Rajoub's bodyguards. In both previous cases, the IDF registered an official apology and promised to investigate what led to the attacks.

Second pregnant woman hit by Israeli gunfire near Nablus
In the past few days, there have been a number of cases of misdirected IDF gunfire at army roadblocks. According to media reports, soldiers stationed at the roadblocks are extremely tense and possibly even "light on the trigger," following last week's ambush at Ein Arik, where Palestinian terrorists gunned down and killed six soldiers.

This morning, for the second time in two days, IDF gunfire injured a pregnant Palestinian woman at an army roadblock in the northern West Bank. Her husband was killed and his father seriously wounded.

The incident occurred near the Balata refugee camp, southeast of Nablus. Muhammad el-Haiyek, 22, was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital when the car was stopped by soldiers. Palestinian witnesses claimed that the soldiers opened fire on the car with no warning.

Israeli military sources quoted in Ha'aretz said soldiers had "signaled a car to stop at a roadblock near the Nablus refugee camp of Balata, but the car reversed and tried to circumvent the roadblock and the soldiers opened fire." The IDF has not yet issued a statement regarding the shooting.

The incident occurred less than 24 hours after IDF gunfire injured Shadiah Shkadeh, 27, a pregnant Palestinian woman in labor, near a roadblock in the same area. Shkadeh said that the soldiers had given permission to her family's car to proceed, but when it passed by a second roadblock, at a position recently occupied by the army, soldiers opened fire.

The IDF Spokesman issued an apology for the incident. Shkadeh managed to reach the Nablus hospital, where she gave birth to a baby girl.

On Friday, in another case of misdirected Israeli gunfire, Maon resident Noam Chen was injured by soldiers stationed at an IDF roadblock near Beit Umar, north of Hebron. The soldiers mistakenly believed that shots fired by Chen at Palestinians whom he thought were attacking him, were directed at them.

Overnight, IDF soldiers manning the Kalansua roadblock south of Tulkarm shot and killed a Palestinian woman, who reportedly ran at them shouting, "Allah Akhbar." The soldiers shot first at the woman's legs, but when she continued towards them, carrying a knife, they shot and killed her, Israel Radio reported.

© 2001-2002 Koret Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.