HIGHLIGHTS: Israelis' Truck Pelted With Stones, Then Shot At||Hebron First Palestinian Town Israelis Moved into After 1967 War||Theoretically, Palestinians Have 80 Per Cent Control Over Hebron, Al-Khalil|| STORY: An Israeli occupation army spokesman has said that two Israelis were wounded one of seriously in a Palestinian Resistance shooting attack in the Hebron, Al-Khalil area. The injured were taken to hospital in Jerusalem. (Read photo caption)

According to the source, the truck which the two Israelis were taking swerved off road when they were pelted with stones and later shot at.

No Further details were immediately Available.

In another Resistance attack, Palestinians fired on an army jeep overnight on a road south west of Ramallah. No one was hurt in that attack.

The same Israeli source added that the occupation army has discoverd another tunnel used for smuggling arms in Gaza in the Rafah area. Three Palestinians on Israel's so-called wanted list were arrested. The source also confirmed reports that Palestinians in Gaza clashed with fire arms with the occupation army during which explosive devices were hurled at occupation troops.

BACKGROUND TO CONFLICT IN HEBRON, AL-KHALIL

Both the Arabic and Hebrew names for the city may mean 'friend' - al-Khalil and Hevron - but nowhere are the enmities between Israelis and Palestinians stronger than in Hebron in the West Bank.

Hebron was the first West Bank town Jewish settlers moved into after the territory was captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
And it was the last West Bank town from which Israeli troops were redeployed as a result of the Oslo accords.

The long-delayed agreement signed in 1997 between Binyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli prime minister, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gave Palestinians 80 per cent control over the 120,000-strong Palestinian town.

The remaining 20 per cent was held by Israeli troops in order to protect the 400-strong Jewish community, particularly those living in the centre of Hebron, along Martyrs Street.

The redeployment was in some senses a victory for the peace process - signalling a break from the far-right elements of Netanyahu's coalition who believed that "Eretz Israel", the Jews' biblical homeland, could never be negotiated or ceded.
But it also left around 30,000 Palestinians stranded within the Israeli-controlled area, making them liable to frequent 24-hour curfews imposed whenever violence erupts - even when the violence is initiated by Jewish settlers.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli soldier directs a group of tanks at the Gilo checkpoint as the army pulls out of Bethlehem after occupying the West Bank town for four days May 30, 2002. The four-day occupation of Bethlehem was an exception to a new Israeli practice of brief raids into Palestinian areas to make arrests and search for weapons and explosives. Early Thursday, Israeli forces entered Hebron, 15 miles south of Bethlehem, made several arrests, and left a few hours later. Hebron was the first West Bank town Jewish settlers moved into after the territory was captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
And it was the last West Bank town from which Israeli troops were redeployed as a result of the Oslo accords.