ISRAEL - Lynch mob suspects held by Israeli security forces

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Lynch mob suspects held by Israelis

By Alan Philps in Jerusalem

ISRAELI security forces have arrested two suspected members of the lynch squad which killed two soldiers in October, including the man who held his bloody hands out of the window of Ramallah police station.

The youth with the bloodied hands was named as Aziz Salha, 20, from the West Bank village of Deir Jarir. A statement from the prime minister's office said he had admitted being part of the mob which burst into the police station, where the two reserve soldiers were being held after taking a wrong turning.

He choked one of the soldiers while others beat him. When he saw his hands were covered in blood, he went to the window and showed them to the crowd below.

A second suspect, named as Mohammed Howara, had admitted to being one of the mob which stabbed the soldiers. The Ramallah lynching was one of the most harrowing incidents in nine months of violence. The Israeli authorities have arrested 15 suspects but none has been tried.

Time was fast running out last night for the 11-day-old ceasefire which was brokered by Washington but has failed to stop the violence. Israel has a list of dozens of militants and has given the Palestinians 24 hours to arrest them. The Palestinians refuse to arrest only those guilty of breaking the current ceasefire.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2001


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