BEIT OMAR, West Bank, April 8 (UPI) -- At least 16 Palestinians were injured Wednesday in a West Bank clash with Jewish settlers, local reports said.
Israeli Army Radio reported that the two sides disagree over what started the fracas in which stone-throwing Palestinians fought with gun-wielding Israelis at the Bat Ayin Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, The Jerusalem Post said.
The violence came in the wake the slaying last week of a 13-year-old Israeli boy and the wounding of another by an ax-wielding man who had infiltrated Bat Ayin, the Post said.
Army Radio reported the initial investigation by Israeli military authorities indicated the Palestinians attacked the settlers, who were walking from the settlement to a nearby cemetery. The settlers said they had come under attack from stone-throwing Arabs while praying in an area near the Palestinian village of Beit Omar.
The Palestinians said the settlers entered the village firing guns in the air.
Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene in riot gear, shooting rubber bullets at the legs of the stone-throwers, officials said.
