HEBRON, West Bank (Reuter) - Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers fatally shot three Palestinians and wounded 103 in fierce West Bank clashes Tuesday after the United States failed to revive Middle East peacemaking.
The clashes erupted after a Jewish settler killed a 24-year-old Arab shopkeeper in volatile Hebron, in the bloodiest day of violence since Israel launched construction on a new Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem last month.
"What happened today is a crime that happened with Israeli encouragement and clear American cover," said Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank.
Israeli police said the settler and a companion, both students in their 20s at a religious school, opened fire from Uzi submachine guns after Arabs sprayed teargas and hurled stones at them. The dead man was identified as Asem Arafeh.
Hundreds of Palestinians hurled stones and petrol bombs at Israeli soldiers guarding about 400 Jewish settlers in parts of the West Bank town still under Israeli occupation during several hours of clashes.
One witness said settlers joined the clashes, firing live ammunition at demonstrators. One soldier jumped on a settler who had fired and took him away, the witness said.
Officials at al-Ahli hospital said 15-year-old Yacoub al-Joulani died when a rubber-coated metal bullet penetrated his head. They said a previous report identifying him as Mansour Taha al-Sayed Ahmed was wrong.
A Palestinian health ministry official said Alia hospital treated 78 people while al-Ahli hospital treated 25.
Hadassah hospital spokesman Yossi Shoval said the third Palestinian to die, 24-year-old Nader a-Said, was also hit in the head with a rubber-coated bullet.
Witnesses said clashes tapered off after PLO forces formed a barrier between the angry crowd and Israeli soldiers.
The violence provided the backdrop for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's return to Israel Tuesday from talks in Washington with U.S. President Bill Clinton that failed to salvage peace. A grim-faced Clinton called the discussions "very specific, frank, candid and long."
Israeli-PLO peace moves plunged into crisis when Netanyahu sent bulldozers to start building 6,500 housing units for Jews in Arab East Jerusalem on March 18, defying international appeals.
The construction, which Palestinians say completes a ring of settlements around East Jerusalem to pre-empt talks on the future of that half of the city, ignited a wave of protests.
Tuesday's violence raised to five the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis in nearly three weeks of unrest. An Arab killed three Israeli women when he blew himself up at a Tel Aviv cafe last month.
"I think a medal should be awarded to anyone who reacts like this against murderers and terrorists trying to kill him," said Hebron Rabbi Moshe Bleicher, referring to the settlers who shot Arafeh.
Netanyahu vowed Monday to continue settling Jews in the Arab half of the city that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said: "This means that he does not want peace."
Arafat's aide Marwan Kanafani said the Palestinian leader was "extremely disapointed with the attitude of Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington and with the things he said."
"This is an immediate result of the (settlement) policies of Mr Netanyahu. I hope he will be happy seeing this blood on his own hands," Kanafani said of the latest violence.
In New Delhi, the Non-Aligned Movement called for an emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly to demand that Israel stop all settlement activity.
About 130,000 Jewish settlers, most armed by the Israeli military, live in heavily fortified enclaves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.