... One Tin Soldier Rides Away ...

Two Palestinian cousins, both 18, were killed Sunday by Israeli fire south of Nablus in the West Bank, bringing the Palestinian death toll in the area to four within 24 hours. Two others, 16 and 19, were shot during a confrontation with the military on Saturday. One died immediately and the other died of his wounds overnight.

The Israeli military said the cousins were killed after they tried to attack a soldier with a pitchfork and an ax, though relatives and neighbors of the dead youths disputed that.

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, said in a statement that he “strongly condemned the Israeli military escalation” and that it “puts in jeopardy the Palestinian Authority’s achievements of security and stability.”

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said, “The Israeli escalation and the killing of Palestinians on a daily basis is the actual response of the Israeli government to the Palestinians, the Arabs and to American efforts.”

As is often the case in such shootings with few witnesses, the circumstances surrounding the death of the cousins on Sunday were in dispute. Relatives and neighbors who gathered in the village of Awarta at the home of one of the youths, Salah Muhammad Qawariq, insisted that the two were simply working their land when Jewish settlers from a nearby settlement came and shot them.

“There were no soldiers in the area,” one of the neighbors, Dalal Aziz, said in a telephone interview. Ms. Aziz did not see the shooting, but she said she had run to the scene soon afterward to try to help.

Also, sharp differences remained over the Saturday killings. The military maintains that the two were shot by rubber bullets as soldiers dispersed a violent protest involving dozens of villagers hurling rocks.

But the Israeli human rights group Btselem distributed photographs of the victims taken by its researcher, Salma al-Debi, in the emergency room of the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus showing wounds that appeared consistent with live ammunition.

The youth who died overnight, Ussayed Qadus, had a bullet lodged in his head, but in accordance with the family’s wishes, he was buried on Sunday without an autopsy.

The military said that both deaths were under investigation.

Signifying the change in tone between Jerusalem and Washington, Mr. Mitchell told the Israelis on Sunday that “the relationship between the United States and Israel is strong and enduring, that our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable and unbreakable.

“And that’s the way it’s going to remain,” he added.

...

ADDED:

An Israeli soldier was accidentally shot dead by fellow soldiers along the Gaza border on Monday in an operation aimed at stopping three Palestinians who were thought to be trying to infiltrate the border fence, an army spokesman said. The three, who were unarmed, were detained. The shooting occurred when a tank team that saw the men along the fence called for reinforcements. The new arrivals thought the soldiers were the infiltrators and shot them. The army has opened an investigation.

FUNNY, I though transparency and daylight were good things, so as not to be operating under the cover of shadow, secrecy and denials. Hmm?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be serious and substantive and that new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were jeopardizing progress.

"New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need," Clinton said in a speech to AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobby group.

"It exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region could hope to exploit. And it undermines America's unique ability to play a role -- an essential role, I might add -- in the peace process," she said.

INTERESTING TO NOTE:
Sunday:

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- AIPAC's president and a key donor to President Obama's campaign urged the White House to keep differences with Israel private.

"Allies should work out their differences privately," Lee Rosenberg said to a standing ovation in his inaugural speech as president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Speaking at AIPAC's annual policy conference in Washington, Rosenberg described the tensions between Israel and the United States as "very unfortunate" and made it clear he believed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done his part in aplogizing for the announcement of construction plans for a Jewish neighborhood in in eastern Jerusalem during an Israel visit two weeks ago by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

"How friends disagree, how they react when missteps occur, that can determine the nature of the relationship," Rosenberg said.

He suggested that the Obama administration should focus its pressure on the Palestinians, to bring them back to peace talks.

"The reluctant partner in this peace process is not Israel's elected leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu. The recalcitrant partner are the Palestinians and their leader: President Mahmoud Abbas," he said.

Rosenberg, a Chicago-based venture capitalist, was a key-fundraiser for Obama's presidential bid.

TODAY: In other news today, the White House announced that because of the celebratory atmosphere over the healthcare bill, all meetings later today -- including that with Prime Minister Netanyahu -- would be private and off limits to press coverage. And so it goes, for another day...

The White House did everything possible to make sure Obama's appearances carried the day without competition. A planned announcement of the administration's new drug control policy by Vice President Joe Biden was called off, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to hold his regular daily briefing for reporters, and all Obama's meetings were closed to coverage, including one with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The day was about more than celebration. It marked the launch of an aggressive sales job Obama will undertake to turn around public opinion on the legislation and help save Democrats — particularly those from conservative-leaning districts — who stand to suffer most in the fall elections from casting votes for the bill.