Eight suspects in mob lynching captured

Israel had vowed to punish those responsible for the grimsly attack on two reserve soldiers who were stabbed and beaten to death on October 12 by a crowd of several thousand angry Palestinians. The mob had stormed a police station in the West Bank town of Ramallah where they were being held, and Israel alleges that policemen were involved in the lynchings.

However, Israel has so far refused to confirm officially the capture of the eight suspects, while Palestinian security officials said up to five youths had been arrested in West Bank areas where Israel has security control.

"I can say nothing at this stage, except that what has been done has been done, or will be," Israel’s deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh told army radio. "I can add that it was for nothing that we promised that the guilty will be punished and that justice will be done," he said, adding there had been no cooperation with Palestinian security services.

A Palestinian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "We confirm that there were arrests from villages near Ramallah which are under Israeli control and from two to five youths arrested." He said the arrests were made in Beit Liqya, an area under full Israeli control southwest of Ramallah and Beitin, just to the northeast of the city in an area that is under Palestinian civilian rule but Israeli security control.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak had exacted swift revenge for what he labelled a "barbaric act," rocketing Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza with helicopter gunships, including the Ramallah police station itself.

The killings came after two weeks of deadly street battles raging across the territories between Israeli forces and Palestinians armed with stones, Molotov cocktails and sometimes assault rifles.

According to the Israeli army, the soldiers were reservists who had mistakenly driven into the Palestinian-controlled town as thousands were attending the funeral of one of the more than 100 Palestinians who have lost their lives since clashes erupted on September 28.

The horrific murders, caught on camera by an Italian television crew and broadcast around the world, incensed Israelis and hardened their hearts against the Palestinians.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has promised an inquiry into the lynchings, which followed what Israel termed the accidental killing of a Palestinian boy who was shot dead in his father’s arms.

Meanwhile, Italian public television Rai has recalled its Jerusalem correspondent after his press card was suspended following a letter he wrote in a Palestinian newspaper on the coverage of the lynching. The accreditation of Riccardo Cristiano was withdrawn after he wrote to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to distance his station from footage of the attack. "His letter implies that he will never again film events which are liable to cast a negative light on the PA, such as the recent lynching of army reservists in Ramallah," Israel’s government press office said.

The letter was published Monday in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jedida. "Friends in Palestine, we salute you and believe it is our duty to explain to you that it was a private Italian television station which filmed the scene which was then shown on Israeli television," Cristiano wrote. "They thought that it was us, but that is not the case. We always respect the journalistic rules of Palestine," he added.