A crowd of 10,000 Palestinians cried for vengeance as they buried three members of a family, including a baby, shot dead by suspected Jewish extremists.
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Mourners packed the funeral route and nearby rooftops screaming: "We will die and Palestine will live" as the bodies of the three, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were brought from Hebron to the West Bank village of Ithna.
"I have waited 12 years to have this child," wailed the mother of baby Diya al Tmeizi as her infant son was carried to his grave."Now all I can do is weep for him as I weep for the other Palestinians who are sacrificing themselves."
Masked militants fired automatic weapons in the air as members of the radical Hamas movement, responsible for the majority of anti-Israeli attacks in recent years, passed out leaflets vowing to avenge their deaths.
The killing was claimed by an extremist group with links to settlers and the outlawed anti-Arab movement Kach.
The deaths are certain to further inflame passions that have been running at fever pitch in the last week as the Middle East bloodshed shows every sign of mounting.
Mr Marwan Barghouti, head of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank, said: "This will lead to a widespread response by the Palestinians. I'm afraid if [the settlers] are not stopped, we are on the verge of a bloodbath."
AFP