Four people killed in family feud in Bedouin town in Negev By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
Four people were killed and eight others wounded, one seriously, in a family feud that erupted in the Bedouin town of Rahat on Saturday, police said.
The dispute initially started as a scuffle between a few children yet quickly escalated when others joined the fracas. Feuding family members belonging to the Al-Jabur clan opened fire on each other, burnt cars and set fire to at least one building, witnesses said.
Police believe the incident to be the latest in a three-year conflict between sects of the clan, apparently stemming from a financial debt.
Recent attempts to settle the dispute and reconcile between the parties have failed.
The dead and wounded had been shot, stabbed and some run over by a vehicle, Yehuda Shoshan, a paramedic at the scene told Army Radio. Police are investigating whether two of the people who were killed were run over by a truck.
It remains unclear whether the driver purposely ran over the victims or simply lost control of the vehicle.
Some 200 policemen, under the command of southern district commander Dudi Cohen and reinforced by Border Patrol personnel, were sent in to quell the fighting. Three people were arrested, Dotan said.