RENEWED VIOLENCE
October 2, 2000

After this background report, Khalil Jahshan of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy discuss the outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Aug. 29, 2000: An examination of the fate of Palestinian refugees. Aug. 23, 2000: Jerusalem, center of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. July 25, 2000: Secretary of State Albright on the breakdown of the Camp David talks. July 25, 2000: Palestinian and Israeli perspectives on Camp David. July 20, 2000: An update on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the Middle East	MARGARET WARNER: The violence in the Middle East continued to escalate today. It was touched off last Thursday when Israel's right wing opposition leader former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims. We begin our coverage with this report by John Irvine of Independent Television News. JOHN IRVINE: There is a huge turnout for each and every Palestinian funeral. These people regard their dead as martyrs, killed in a religious war over Jerusalem and, therefore, worthy of being honored. And appearing at each funeral are many more men prepared to die. This is one of several funerals taking place on the West Bank today. And it is not only an outpouring of grief. It is a call to arms, a call for retaliation. So after the funerals, the violence resumed. Some of today's fiercest clashes were again on the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians attacked an Israeli lookout post that protects a small Jewish settlement. The Israelis have accused the Palestinian security forces of not doing enough to quell the rioting; at first they tried to deter the youths but later the Palestinian policemen joined in the fighting themselves.
	Spread of violence
	What will concern many Israelis is the spread of the violence from the occupied territories to Israel itself. For the second day running, the town of Nazareth was virtually cut off. Arabs who live inside Israel make up nearly 20 percent of the population, so they pose a sizable threat. The trouble, however, has been most widespread in the West Bank, where stone throwers have again been out in force, despite being outgunned by the Israelis. More than 30 Palestinians have been killed, and serious questions are being asked about the use of live ammunition. The Israelis are fully aware of worldwide abhorrence at the death of 12-year-old Mohammed Al-Durah, who with his father got pinned down during a gun battle. For 45 minutes, they cowered, terrified in no-man's land, but eventually the Israelis killed the boy. They said afterwards they had not seen him. The father, Jamal, survived; he said that after they were both shot his son told him not to be frightened. The Israelis have brought in the tools of war, but they have not been used, for this has become a popular uprising and it would be difficult to justify overwhelming force against stone throwers.