August 17 Woman sets herself on fire in Israel

A seriously wounded Israeli woman who set herself on fire to oppose Israel's pullout from Gaza is rushed to the emergency room at the Soroka hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel, Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alberto Denkberg)


Posted on Wed, Aug. 17, 2005



Woman sets herself on fire in Israel


Associated Press

JERUSALEM - A right-wing West Bank settler opposed to Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip set herself on fire Wednesday in southern Israel, suffering life-threatening burns on 70 percent of her body, police and hospital officials said.

The 54-year-old woman, whose name was not revealed, was taken to a hospital in serious condition, police said. She had the smell of gas on her, a paramedic said.

The woman had been at a roadblock near the southern town of Netivot since the morning, carrying an anti-Gaza pullout sign, said police spokeswoman Liat Nidam. The woman set herself ablaze after getting a glass of water from a policeman, Nidam said. Police ran toward her and doused the flames with their shirts and water.

Paramedic Osnat Asulil said he asked the woman why she did it, and she responded that it was an act of protest. He said there was a strong smell of gas around her.

Hundreds of thousands of right-wing Israelis have been protesting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's so-called "disengagement" plan, evacuating the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.

Nidam said the woman who burned herself carried a sign reading, "Impose a closure on the media, destroy the disengagement, put Sharon before a military court."