Hi Nadine Carroll; Re: "Does this strike you as an appropriate headline for a Palestinian ambush of settlers walking home from prayers?"
While the initial ambush may have been one of peaceful unarmed settlers walking home from prayers, the apparent fact is that all 12 dead Israelis were combatants:
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The security forces were escorting a group of Jews leaving a service ...
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As Israeli soldiers rushed to help the victims, the gunmen attacked again, killing several of the rescuers, including the region's highest ranking Israeli military official. Hebron Brigade commander Col. Dror Weinberg, 38, a border police officer, became the most senior IDF member to be killed in the intifada, according to Ha'aretz.
The IDF said the bodies of three of the Palestinian gunmen had been recovered from the scene. According to the IDF, the 12 Israeli fatalities include two IDF officers, two IDF soldiers, four border police troops, a border police officer and three civilians.
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cnn.com
And what about those 3 civilians? They were also combatants, as defined by the Geneva Convention, and were recognized as such by the Israelis themselves:
IDF grants military funeral to civilians killed in Hebron attack
Jerusalem Post, November 16, 2002
The IDF announced Saturday night that three civilians, among them the civilian security officer of the settlement of Kiryat Arba, will be granted a military funeral in a civilian cemetery, after they were killed in a shooting attack in Hebron Friday.
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Kiryat Arba local council head Zvi Katsover told Channel One News the three "fought like soldiers and should be buried like soldiers." Settlers will continue fighting for the IDF to recognize them as IDF casualties, he was earlier quoted by Israel Radio as saying, and they will not be buried until the IDF relents.
jpost.com
The Geneva Convention quite clearly states that people who "fight like soldiers" are combatants. You should be complimenting the Palestinians on fighting against soldiers instead of civilians.
Yahoo:
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The dead included four Israeli soldiers, five border policemen and three civilian security guards from Kiryat Arba.
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story.news.yahoo.com
I don't know, maybe those Palestinians aren't as poor soldiers as you make them out to be.
-- Carl |
