syed writes "JERUSALEM, July 6 -- A Palestinian woman and her 2-year-old daughter were killed early today when the taxi they were traveling in came under heavy gunfire in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.

Automatic weapons fired from an Israeli outpost sprayed the taxi, the Palestinians said. But an Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had no record of any live fire in the area at the time of the incident.

The victims, Randa Hindi, 44, and her daughter, Noor, were on their way home from a family wedding at 6 a.m. when their taxi was hit at the Netzarim Junction, according to witnesses, family members and hospital officials. The junction is near a heavily guarded Israeli settlement south of Gaza City.

A house near the junction formerly inhabited by Palestinians is occupied by Israeli forces, who use it as an outpost because of its strategic vistas, residents said. Farmers in the area who witnessed the incident said the shots came from the roof of the building. But an Israeli military spokeswoman in Jerusalem said that there was no [Israeli military] fire in the area at the time at all.

A passenger in the taxi, Jamal Ismail, 29, said he heard Hindi scream as the car was hit. When I looked back, I saw a very horrible scene that I can never forget, he told the Associated Press. The woman and her baby were in a pool of blood. Both were shot in the head.

Family members said the mother and daughter were part of a group of family members returning home to Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip from a wedding in Gaza City in the north. The family members had spent the night in Gaza City and were traveling home early to avoid long delays at checkpoints, they said. Hindi's son was driving the taxi, they said.

My son Omar called me crying and said, 'Daddy, they shot my mother and sister,' said Mohammed Hindi at the funeral outside his home. He said, 'I didn't know what to do. I don't believe they shot them and they're dead.'

In another incident Saturday, Subhi Shurab, a 44-year-old Palestinian man, was shot and killed while walking to his home on the outskirts of Khan Younis, Palestinian officials said. Palestinians also blamed the Israelis for his death, but the Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had no knowledge of that incident, either.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian security officers staged a rare public protest against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his decision to fire Jibril Rajoub as chief of Preventive Security in the West Bank.

More than 500 members of the security force tried to march to Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah to demonstrate against Rajoub's removal and to demand that if he is not reinstated, he should be given a high-ranking political or security position in the authority. Israeli security forces that have surrounded Arafat's compound prevented the demonstrators from presenting their demands to him.

Rajoub, who had cultivated close ties to the CIA and Israeli security officials, has been touted as a possible successor to Arafat. It is not clear whether he was fired as part of an internal power struggle, or if he was removed from office as part of an overall effort to reform the authority's security services, as Arafat has stated. Arafat offered Rajoub the governorship of Jenin, but he declined.

Many of the protesters chanted, Reform for the corrupt, not for the strugglers! -- a reference to Rajoub's reputation as an up-and-coming reformer. Others said they would not work for Rajoub's successor, the current governor of Jenin, Zuhair Manasreh, insisting that the new leader be appointed from within the agency.

A group of several dozen officers from the force met with Arafat tonight to press for a promotion for Rajoub and to argue against the appointment of Manasreh, according to Col. Sabri Tumeizi, commander of Preventive Security in Ramallah, who attended the meeting. Arafat did not say how he would respond, Tumeizi said.

Rajoub is a partner in this struggle, and he has the right to be in the political and security kitchen of the Palestinian Authority, Tumeizi said. Regarding Manasreh, we have several . . . reservations [about] him, and we will not be with him.

After a three-hour meeting with Arafat, Col. Ziyad Habalreah told reporters the Palestinian leader had listened sympathetically to the group's demands.I can describe the atmosphere of the meeting as positive, Habalreah said, according to the Associated Press. President Arafat listened to us and answered that he understands these points, and he promised to study the subject and to meet with us again.

Habalreah said a date had not been set for another meeting, and it was agreed that in the meantime the officers would be under the direct authority of the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior and not Manasreh.
By John Ward AndersonWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, July 7, 2002; Page A15 "