Intifada 2000

Intifada 2000 (al-Aqsa Intifada): Series of "Real-Time" EmergencyNet News Reports Concerning Major Civil Unrest in the West Bank/Gaza Strip/Jerusalem -- 01 Apr 2001 to 31 Jul 2001 [Part 4 of 5 Part Series]

NABLUS, West Bank (EmergencyNet News) -- According to reports coming into EmergencyNet News today, a second unexplained explosion in as many days, has struck a building associated with militants who are suspected of terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. This time, Palestinian sources say that an Israeli helicopter has struck an office of the Hamas organization with missiles. Eight people have reportedly been killed in this latest incident, including Jamal Mansour and Jamal Salim, who are described as top Hamas political leaders. The incident brings to 14 the total number of alleged militants who have been killed in the past two days.

Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin almost immediate vowed revenge for the recent attacks, "The Israeli people will pay a heavy price," Yassim told the Reuters news service. "Israel has exceeded all red lines. The Israeli people...will discover our blood is not cheap...I leave it to the Qassam brigades to react after the Israeli action,'' Yassin said, referring to the Hamas military wing. "They must react."

An Israeli defense forces (IDF) spokesperson declined comment on today's Nablus incident. At least 508 Palestinians, 130 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since a Palestinian uprising began 10 months ago.

NABLUS, West Bank -- Six Palestinian activists were killed in an explosion early Monday in a shack near a Palestinian refugee camp, witnesses and security officials said.

The blast tore apart the tin shack. Palestinian police at a checkpoint about 200 yards away said they heard a loud blast. Palestinian security officials charged that Israeli tank shells killed the six men in the West Bank village of Fara, close to the Jewish settlement of Alon Moreh and about 15 miles from the Palestinian-ruled city of Jenin.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the incident, described by a political official from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, to which the six belonged, as "an assassination."

The explosion took place near the Al-Fara refugee camp north of Nablus. An eyewitness said there were no Israeli helicopters in the area, and the blast blew the roof off the shack, indicating that the explosion may have come from inside the structure.

Palestinian security officials said all six dead Palestinians were activists in Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and that three served in a Palestinian military intelligence unit. All were on Israel's wanted list for planning attacks inside Israel, they said.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police assaulted Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday after Palestinians threw stones at Jewish worshippers. At least 15 policemen were reportedly wounded by the stone-throwing Palestinians, a police spokesman said. A Reuters television cameraman at the compound said at least one Palestinian was hurt when police fired teargas and stun grenades at the worshippers. Other reports indicated that as many as 20 Palestinians had been injured in the clashes.

``I am on the Temple Mount along with 400 police officers...we are in full control,'' Jerusalem police commander Mickey Levy told Israel's army radio. A police spokesman said earlier a police force that had stormed the area was dispersing Muslim worshippers, some of whom entered the site's two mosques. Police had surrounded the mosques, the spokesman said.

Dozens of Palestinians lobbed stones over the wall as Muslim clerics called for calm over mosque loudspeakers. Within minutes, Israeli troops, carrying riot shields, rushed into the mosque plaza to attempt to halt the violence.

Israeli police were on heightened alert after warnings by Palestinian officials that a plan by an extreme right-wing Jewish group to lay a 4.5-tonmarble cornerstone at the site could lead to violence. The Temple Mount Faithful fringe group backed off from its plan to lay the cornerstone but stone-throwing broke out later. "We didn't allow the Temple Mount Faithful to go anywhere near the Mount -- we did our job. The cornerstone did not even enter the Old City," Levy said.

The area is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and is also Judaism's holiest site -- the Temple Mount. It was also the alleged "flash-point" for the current "intifadah," when it was visited by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to Palestinians.

Outside observers said that as time goes on that it increasingly appears that radical elements from both sides of the conflict are attempting to cause the provocation that could result in a larger war in the region.

Bomb Explodes in Underground Parking Lot of N. Jerusalem Residential Building

(IsraelNationalNews.com) A bomb exploded about ten minutes ago in the underground parking lot of a residential building in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of northern Jerusalem. The blast occurred on Moshe Dayan Street. One person is being transported to a local hospital. The occupants of the building are being evacuated from their homes as emergency responders continue heading to the area.

(IsraelNationalNews.com) According to a senior official in the fire department, a second bomb has been discovered in a vehicle in northern Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood. A short time ago, a bomb exploded in an underground parking lot on Moshe Dayan Street. As firefighters were extinguishing the remains of the blast, the second explosive device was detected. The building in which the blast occurred has been cleared of occupants and area residents were advised to distance themselves from windows. Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

Nabalus, West Bank (EmergencyNet News) -- According to both Palestinian Authority and Israeli sources, alleged Hamas militant Salah Darwaza, 35, was killed in a military operation today. The incident happened near the Al-Ayn refugee camp, close to the West Bank city of Nablus. "An Israeli army force struck this afternoon Salah Darwaza, a senior terrorist from Hamas and one of the leaders of Hamas in Nablus," the army said in a statement issued to the Reuters news service, adding that Darwaza was responsible for planning "massive terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians."

Palestinians, angered by what they call "assassinations" of alleged militant leaders said, "This crime will not pass without punishment," according to Jamal Salim, a Hamas leader in the Nablus area. At least 493 Palestinians, 129 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the Palestinian "intifadah" uprising began.

Hebron (EmergencyNet News) -- At least one Palestinian has been killed and eight were injured in an explosion in the West Bank town of Hebron on Friday. The exact circumstances of the explosion remain unclear as there are at least two stories about how it occurred.

Palestinians said the local office of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement was shelled by Israeli forces, while Israeli security sources suggested a bomb had exploded while a militant worked on it. A third report said that the explosion actually took place in a building immediately adjacent to the Fatah offices.

Even who the victims were remains open to apparent debate. Palestinian sources claim that those killed and injured were "innocent civilians" and Israeli sources claim that the victims were "members of the extremist Palestinian Tanzim faction." As is too often the case in the confusing "fourth-generation warfare" that takes place everyday in this region, the truth may never be sorted out. But, barring a major diplomatic breakthrough, the violence will most certainly continue...

Palestinian medical sources said a Palestinian man was in critical condition after being shot in the head on Friday by Israeli troops in the flashpoint West Bank town of Hebron. A 24-year-old man was shot in the head during a brief exchange of fire in Hebron, where gun-battles raged throughout the night following the killing of three Palestinians by suspected Jewish extremists. Sources had no further immediate details about his shooting.

Seventeen Palestinians were wounded overnight in a night of running gun battles after the slaying of the three Palestinians and the wounding of four others, all of them from the same family. An Israeli army spokesman said Palestinians opened fire on military posts and the Jewish enclave in divided Hebron. Palestinian witnesses said the army returned fire in a running gun battle that lasted until dawn. The Israeli army also said it defused a bomb in the Gaza Strip near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. No injuries were reported there.

Suspected Jewish militants killed three Palestinians, including an infant. The infant, three months old, was the youngest person killed in 10 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Two other children from the same family, aged four and five months, were also wounded.

Israel Radio said a group calling itself "The Committee for Road Safety" -- a name alluding to the danger Jewish settlers face from Palestinian gunmen -- claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli security sources said a group using that name had carried out attacks in the past and had identified with the outlawed Jewish Kach movement campaigning to expel Arabs from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

As tension and violence escalate, additional Israeli soldiers, tanks and military vehicles took up new positions on Wednesday in the West Bank, searching cars and beefing up their presence around Palestinian towns. Additional soldiers arrived at regular West Bank checkpoints and others set up new roadblocks, stopping and searching passing cars. Many Palestinians heading from Bethlehem to Jerusalem bypassed the check-point on foot, taking dirt paths skirting the main road.

An Israeli spokesman said the additional troops would be used "to intercept terrorists." Earlier, an Israeli army statement said the troop and tank reinforcements had been sent in response to Tuesday's "flagrant violation" of the two sides' tattered ceasefire. The move came after some of the worst violence in the region in recent months, including a suicide bombing and mortar attacks by Palestinians and Israeli helicopter strikes.

Analysts in Jerusalem say that the mobilization may be just a threat or bluff, but that it could also be a prelude to an invasion of the West Bank - which would essentially be a declaration of war. Senior Palestinians were quick to warn that Israel's actions were pushing the region towards disaster.

The mobilization comes after at least four Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli helicopter strike. Israeli military sources said that the targets had been planning a bomb attack on the Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish sporting event which opened on Monday evening in Jerusalem. Just a few hours later, a mortar bomb was fired at the Jewish settlement of Gilo in what the Israeli army says is the first attack from the West Bank since the latest Palestinian uprising began in September. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Palestinian sources said the helicopters struck a house in the town of Bethlehem belonging to the Fatah movement of Yasser Arafat. A coalition of Palestinian terror groups known as the National and Islamic Forces was quoted as saying they would avenge it, and that every settler and soldier was now a target. Two of the men killed in the strike, identified as Omar Saadeh and Taha Aruj, are believed to be members of the Islamic militant group HAMAS.

Late reports from Israel say that the Islamic Jihad militant group has claimed responsibility for a bombing at a train station in Binyamina today. The radical group named the alleged suicide bomber and claimed responsibility on behalf of those who support a continued intifada and an end of a negotiated peace process in Israel.

Binyamina, Israel (EmergencyNet News) -- Authorities are now saying that at least two people have died, including one "suicide bomber," in an explosion that took place at about 19:30IST today. At least ten others have been wounded, three seriously, according to EMS personnel.

Police and IDF are said to be in "hot pursuit" of a fleeing car suspected of being involved in the bombing, although that information has not been officially confirmed by Israeli authorities. Few other details are currently available as an intensive investigation ensues into the bombing. EmergencyNet News continues to monitor events in Israel and will bring you additional details as circumstances warrant...

Binyamina, Israel (EmergencyNet News) -- In what is being called a "bomb attack," an explosion has occurred at a train station in the Northern Israeli city of Binyamina. Although official details are sketchy at this time, there would appear to be at least six people wounded by the blast, and one unconfirmed report of a fatality at the scene. No claim of responsibility has been issued, though militants (most notably Hamas) have been threatening suicide attacks for several days.

The radical Islamic group HAMAS has accused Israel of assassinating one of its members in a car bombing in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. Fawwaz Badran, age 27, was killed as his car exploded outside his music store in the town center on Friday. HAMAS has vowed revenge.

Following the death of the HAMAS terrorist, the senior HAMAS leader in Gaza, Ismail Abu Shanab, said: "This is an assassination. This is a new crime... This incites us to more resistance, to more revenge because Israeli military arrogance does not stop except by power. This will not pass without any reaction from the military wing of HAMAS. This will not stop our resistance... Revenge is coming soon."

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of assassinating at least 40 "activists" since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation flared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel has denied having such policy but said it deliberately targets those it knows are involved in terrorist attacks against its citizens.

In renewed violence in the West Bank on Friday, an Israeli was killed and 23 Palestinians were wounded. In Hebron, a fierce gun battle lasted into the early hours of Friday after one Israeli was killed and another wounded in a nighttime Palestinian attack there. In Gaza, a Palestinian was shot and killed on Friday by Israeli forces after he threw a grenade at soldiers defusing a bomb.

Witnesses in Hebron said Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian buildings, setting one on fire. It was the heaviest outbreak of fighting in Hebron since a US-sponsored truce took effect a month ago.

Israeli troops briefly entered the Palestinian-controlled part of Hebron and destroyed three police posts. Palestinian security officials said two police and 21 other Palestinians were wounded. Hebron was blacked out by an electric power cut. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on a visit to Rome, warned that Israel's military response would escalate at the pace of the Palestinian attacks.

On Thursday, Palestinians opened fire at an Israeli vehicle near Nablus, wounding three, including a baby. An Israeli was critically wounded in another road ambush near Hebron. A faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement took responsibility for the attack near Nablus and released a videotape of the incident, showing the Israeli car turning in the middle of the road to flee the gunfire, which apparently came from another car.

In response, Israeli tanks fired rounds at two Palestinian police posts in Nablus, killing a Palestinian intelligence officer. Angry Jewish settlers smashed Palestinian property and burned West Bank fields.

A Palestinian woman at a West Bank roadblock was reported killed by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday and Israeli police said they thwarted an attempt to bomb a northern city in a separate incident.

The latest events, along with a Palestinian mortar attack on an Israeli farming community near the Gaza Strip overnight, which caused no casualties, were seen as further signs that a U.S.-brokered truce was not working. Palestinian security officials said the soldiers killed the 35-year- old woman when they fired at a taxi that tried to circumvent an Israeli checkpoint south of the West Bank city of Hebron.

In the northern Israeli city of Afula, police chased through the streets after a Palestinian who people said they saw planting a bomb in an open-air market. Later, police said they found a second bomb in a nearby bank. Both bombs were safely defused. One Palestinian was caught and taken into custody, police said.

In recent days, Israel has increased security against a feared new wave of Palestinian bombings. Security checks have been intensified at the entrances to Tel Aviv airport.

A 26-year-old Palestinian man representing the Islamic militant group HAMAS was killed while carrying out a suicide car bombing in the Gaza Strip. And in the West Bank, an Israeli soldier wounded by an explosion while on patrol near Hebron has died of his injuries. The Gaza explosion happened near the Kissufim crossing point between Israel and Gaza - a road junction used by vehicles traveling to and from Israeli settlements.

The Israeli Army said there were no other casualties in the explosion. A video which HAMAS says was taken of the explosion shows a minibus traveling along the settlers' road when the Palestinian vehicle detonates and the scene is engulfed in smoke. HAMAS said the bombing was a response to "the assassination and killing of children." On Sunday, HAMAS vowed to send ten suicide bombers against Israel to avenge the alleged IDF killing of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy.

After a series of clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army, two car bombs exploded in the central Israeli town of Yehud, near Tel Aviv. Both devices were left in a parking lot close to a kindergarten. Security sources said the target appeared to be a nearby residential area. No injuries were reported as the result of the devices.

It was the first such attack inside Israel for about a month. Only a few hours earlier, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship attacked the car of a prominent member of the militant group HAMAS near the West Bank town of Jenin. Since a truce mediated by the CIA Director George Tenet took effect on 13 June, at least 13 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed.

Israeli officials said the air strike was a preventative measure to prevent a terrorist attack that was being planned by the militant, Mohammed Besharat, in Israel. Earlier on Sunday, two Palestinians - one of them a policeman - were killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in the same area. They too allegedly had links with HAMAS.

According to the Israeli military, they had been planning to plant a road-side bomb near a military base. Palestinian security officials said the two were intending to set off a roadside bomb as a procession of Jewish settlers passed by later in the day.

Security officials said they suspected the target of Monday's Yehud blasts was the residential building next to the parking lot. Police said the bombs appeared to have been planted by Palestinian militants, but they could not be certain until they had finished conducting forensic tests. One press report blamed the explosions on militants associated with the PFLP (Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine). Analysts say the continuing violence is pushing the fragile truce closer to collapse.

A Syrian military position in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley was attacked by Israeli warplanes today. An Israeli government statement said the strike on a radar site was retaliation for attacks on Israel blamed on Hezbollah, a Lebanese guerrilla group backed by Syria. The Bekaa Valley is dotted with Syrian radar, anti-aircraft and tank positions.

Two Palestinians - one of them a policeman - were killed in a shootout with Israeli forces near the West Bank town of Jenin. According to the Israeli military, the two men had been planning to plant a roadside bomb near a military base. This was confirmed by Palestinian security officials, who said the target was a procession of Jewish settlers due to take place later in the day. Palestinian officials said one of the two men killed in the clash belonged to the militant Islamic terrorist group HAMAS. The other was an officer in the Palestinian police force.

In a separate incident on Sunday, an Israeli was wounded when shots were fired at a van driven by an Israeli Arab delivering bread to a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Since a truce mediated by the CIA Director George Tenet took effect on 13 June, at least 10 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed.

An Israeli government statement said the air strike on a radar site was in retaliation for a rocket attack by Hezbollah guerrillas two days ago in which two Israeli soldiers were wounded. Speaking on radio, Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Filosoff said: "We cannot let Hezbollah attack without reacting." Hezbollah responded quickly to the air raid, firing on Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms area where Friday's violence took place.

Syria and Lebanon had warned Israel not to retaliate. A joint statement released on Saturday had said: "Israel will be held responsible for the consequences of any further retaliation on the entire region, world security and peace." Israel has repeatedly said that Lebanon bears responsibility for Hezbollah actions.

Witnesses said at least two missiles hit a Syrian position in the plain between the two main towns of Zahle and Baalbek. Israel planes continued to fly over the area after the 1155 hour local time (0855 GMT) attack.

A Palestinian militant was killed on Sunday when the public telephone he was using exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinians immediately blamed Israel for the attack. The blast came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to travel today to Washington for talks with POTUS on the turmoil in the Middle East. Sharon was expected to reiterate his position that Israel will not conduct negotiations with the Palestinians until there has been a complete cessation of violence.

A member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction was killed in the explosion in a public telephone booth. Osama Jawabra, age 29, was getting ready to place a call when he was killed in the blast. Two children -- aged 4 and 5 -- were wounded in the blast. The children happened to be passing the booth and sustained shrapnel injuries.

The dead man is reported to have been wanted by Israeli security forces. Analysts say about 30 Palestinian militants have been assassinated by a variety of methods by Israel since their latest uprising began last September - including exploding public phones. The Israeli security cabinet has given a green light to "pinpoint attacks" against Palestinian militants despite the cease-fire. More than a dozen people have lost their lives in violence since the cease-fire began, including eight Palestinians and six Israelis. Both sides accuse the other of violating the cease-fire terms...

According to the commander of Israeli military intelligence, possible attacks organized by master terrorist Usama bin Laden may occur in Israel. Intelligence chief Amos Malka said bin Laden's minions had already tried to enter Israel. He said they would try again, and might well succeed. Malka said bin Laden might also try to recruit supporters within Israel.

With a week-old truce nearing collapse because of continuing violence and death, Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs held an inconclusive meeting, and the United States moved to step up its involvement again. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to the Mideast next week to urge Israel and the Palestinians to enforce the cease-fire.

On Thursday, Palestinians for the first time fired a 120mm mortar shell at Israel. A group affiliated with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization vowed on Thursday to step up attacks on Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a statement in which it claimed responsibility for killing two Jewish settlers on Monday, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said: "The Brigades reiterate to our great people ... that our military and security groups are continuing in their military resistance against the hateful occupation. These operations are within our plan to enlarge the cycle of armed resistance against settlements built on our lands."

The Brigades, an informal armed group within Fatah, vowed to attack Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite an eight-day-old U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreed to by both Israel and the Palestinians. In a statement released in Beirut, the brigades also claimed responsibility for killing a Jewish settler on Wednesday. Israel reported new flashes of violence on Thursday. Since the truce began last Wednesday, six Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed, mortar rounds have landed on Jewish settlements in Gaza and several dozen Palestinians have been wounded in confrontations with Israeli troops.

In the latest violence, the army said Palestinians fired a large mortar round at a collective farm inside Israel along the Gaza border early on Thursday. The army also said its troops had come under fire overnight in two areas of the Gaza Strip and three hand grenades were thrown at soldiers near the border with Egypt. No one was reported to be hurt.

A terrorist associated with the Islamic Jihad terror group was critically wounded in the West Bank on Monday by a suspected booby-trapped automobile.

Islamic Jihad blamed Israel for the explosion, saying it was an attempt by the Jewish state "to assassinate" one of its members. The Israeli army said it was "checking" the report. Witnesses said the 25-year-old terrorist had tried to open the door of his car when it exploded. Another passerby was moderately wounded by the blast. At least 454 Palestinians, 111 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in the past eight months of violence.

After Palestinian stone-throwers reportedly seriously hurt a Jewish baby, Jewish settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Wednesday. Palestinian officials said that armed settlers burned three Arab homes and a vegetable hothouse to the ground in the village of Al-Sawia. Police said they had arrested two settlers.

Despite the attack, Israel said the ceasefire promised by President Yasser Arafat four days ago was starting to take hold. Encouraged by the lull in eight months of fighting, the United States said it was sending CIA Director George Tenet to the region. He has mediated between the Palestinians and Israel before and was expected to arrive on Thursday.

But the ceasefire depends on militant Palestinian groups halting bomb attacks, and the Palestinians say it will hold only if they are offered some political gains from the uprising they began against Israeli occupation in late September. Meanwhile, the militant Islamic group HAMAS says it will continue to attack Israelis "everywhere..."

The Islamic group Hamas will continue to fight Israel "by all means" and will not support a cease-fire called by Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat, the militant group's spiritual leader said Tuesday.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said the group, which claimed responsibility for the terror bomb that killed 20 people in Tel Aviv on Friday night, wants "to tell the world that our Palestinian people are not going to kneel down, will not surrender and will continue in this intifada."

"When we are talking about the so-called cease-fire, this means between two armies," Yassin told The Associated Press. "We are not an army. We are people who defend themselves and work against the aggression."

In an apparent response to a call by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, two Palestinian groups, the militant HAMAS and Fatah, reportedly announced a conditional ceasefire. In a statement, the groups said their operations would cease in Israel proper, although they would continue to be active in the Palestinian territories. Later, however, HAMAS said it would continue to attack Israelis "everywhere."

A senior HAMAS official said: "We are not offering any ceasefire. Our policy is to continue the Intifada (uprising) and resistance. We are not changing our policy. Resistance means to attack the Israelis everywhere by all means."

One Israeli demand, rejected by Palestinian officials, is that Arafat re-arrest scores of militants of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad who were released from jail soon after the uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September. At least 450 Palestinians, 110 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the uprising began.

Less than 48 hours after Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat ordered an immediate ceasefire, a small bomb is reported to have exploded at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Israeli army says the explosive device was placed under a car but there were no serious injuries when it exploded early on Monday. Analysts say the latest incident points to the danger of militant Islamic groups continuing their armed campaign and bringing an Israeli military response.

There were also reports from the Israeli army that a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip had been hit by several mortar rounds late on Sunday. The shells, fired from the Palestinian area of Dir Balah caused neither casualties nor damage in the Kfar Darom settlement. The reported attacks were the first since a suicide bomber triggered a blast outside a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21 people, including the bomber, and wounded 90 others.

Arafat, who declared a ceasefire on Saturday, says he is doing all he can to stop the violence. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said late on Sunday: "I am only interested in acts not words." He listed a set of conditions by which a Palestinian ceasefire would be judged, "One: An end to incitement to violence. Two: An end to acts of terrorism and violence. Three: The re-arrest of freed terrorists. Four: The arrest of those who have killed Israelis."

But the Palestinians say it is out of the question that they will arrest anyone on Israel's behalf. Sources say the Israeli military has already selected its targets for retaliation in the wake of the Tel Aviv suicide bombing and are waiting only for the policymakers to give the green light. The international community is calling on all sides to act with restraint, but the Israeli government is facing growing pressure from the Jewish public to take military action. A senior Israeli security official said that it was only Arafat's announcement of a ceasefire that averted a harsh Israeli retaliation.

Leaders of Palestinian terrorist factions are reportedly meeting on Sunday to discuss their response to an order by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of an immediate ceasefire with Israel. Among them will be representatives of HAMAS, Fatah and Islamic Jihad. Arafat announced the ceasefire on Saturday - a day after a suicide bomb attack on a nightclub in Tel Aviv in which 19 Israelis were killed.

Palestinian television and radio have announced a series of measures being taken to implement the ceasefire, including patrols by Palestinian security forces at known points of friction. The Israeli cabinet - which is meeting on Sunday - has yet to respond to these measures. Anti-Palestinian feeling in Israel has been running high since the bombing.

Palestinian radio said two Palestinians have been killed by Jewish settlers near the West Bank town of Ramallah. Witnesses said that the two men lost their lives when their truck crashed after being shot at by the settlers.

Arafat has insisted that by bowing to international pressure for a ceasefire, he is acting in the higher interests of the Palestinian people. But analysts say many activists are likely to see the move as a surrender - a betrayal of the hundreds of lives lost to Israeli guns and bombs over the past nine months. That mood could well be reinforced by the even more severe restrictions Israel now plans to impose on Palestinian areas in response to the suicide bombing.

Israeli newspapers say these measures will effectively seal off the Palestinian-controlled territories from the outside world, and bar any Palestinians from working in Israel. News reports say that HAMAS has said it would reject the ceasefire instruction. And a senior official of Arafat's Fatah faction, Marwan Barghouthi, said: "The Intifada [Palestinian uprising] and resistance will continue as long as one Jewish settler and one Israeli soldier remains on our occupied land."

Palestinians have been preparing for possible retaliatory attacks by Israel. Universities and other public buildings have been evacuated and people are stockpiling food. Israel on Saturday gave Mr Arafat 24 hours to carry out his promise that he would do "whatever is necessary" to achieve a ceasefire.

In a written document, Arafat ordered the implementation of the ceasefire "in all sectors under the Palestinian Authority's control, even by force." But the offer does not satisfy a key Israeli demand - the re-arrest of militant leaders released from Palestinian jails at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising.

A day after a West Bank drive-by shooting victim became the fourth settler to be killed this week, Palestinians fired mortar rounds at a tiny Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip early Friday. The Israeli military said four rounds fell near the Jewish settlement of Slav in the Gush Katif bloc of enclaves in the southern part of Gaza. The shells exploded near the settlement's greenhouses, and no one was injured.

Jewish settlers angered by the mounting Israeli death toll in West Bank shootings have stepped up attacks on Palestinians, stoning and shooting at cars in the Nablus area. And hundreds more clashed with mounted police as they demonstrated at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence in Jerusalem, criticizing his current policy of restraint.

A Palestinian and an Israeli Arab were reportedly wounded in the Nablus attacks. Earlier, a settler was shot and killed while driving his car near the Palestinian-administered town of Tulkarm. He is the fourth to lose his life this week. Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed one and seriously wounded another Palestinian teenager near Ramallah.

(IsraelNationalNews.com) A female has been killed in the shooting attack near N'vei Daniel in the Gush Etzion district of Judea a short time ago. A second person is listed in very critical condition and another victim, a tourist, is reported to be in serious condition. They are being treated in the trauma center of Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital. Other victims of the shooting attack are listed in light-to-moderate condition...

An Israeli motorist was killed in a West Bank drive-by shooting on Tuesday. The motorist died of head wounds shortly after he was shot by Palestinian gunmen from a passing car near the West Bank city of Nablus. Two Israeli settlers were shot and injured -- one seriously -- in another West Bank ambush on Monday night.

The Brigades of the Martyrs of al-Aqsa, an armed branch of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a faxed statement, the group said: "Our mujahedeen (fighters) attacked with machineguns...a settlers' car on the road near the settlement of Kfar Kedumim ... on the road between Nablus and Qalqiliya. The car received a direct hit and our mujahedeen retreated safely."

About nine hours and 100 yards apart, two car bombs exploded in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday. There were no serious injuries in the blasts. In Damascus, the militant Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a bomb that went off at about 09:00 hours (local time), about 100 yards from the Jerusalem police headquarters and the same distance from the spot where another car bomb exploded shortly after midnight.

The second bomb was made up of mortar shells, nails and bullets, the first time such explosives have been used in a car-bomb attack in Israel. It appeared to be of an "anti-personnel" design. Police said a mortar shell from the exploding car flew into a nearby public square, where police bomb experts rushed to disarm it.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said it carried out the first attack, while the Islamic Jihad movement said it was responsible for the second. Analysts say the explosions are beginning to look like a concerted campaign, adding to a sense of national emergency following a daily diet of violence and disaster in the past week. Witnesses reported a series of detonations during the morning rush hour on Sunday, along with the second car bomb blast.

The streets were less crowded than usual, on the eve of a Jewish holiday, and there were no reports of serious injuries. The car bomb blast - heard across the city - set an adjacent building on fire. Police put up roadblocks and deployed helicopters to search for the overnight bombers, who - police believe - drove off in a second car after parking the one with the bomb. A police spokesman said 25 people had been detained, but police were not sure they were involved in the explosion.

Israeli police and military forces were also said to be responding to an increased number of bomb and other threats as the day went on...

Palestinian officials said on Saturday that a bomb exploded during an arms deal in a West Bank refugee camp, killing a Palestinian terrorist and wounding four others. The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of involvement in the blast.

An arms dealer who handed the bomb to the gunmen in the Balata camp late Friday has been arrested. Palestinian security officials said the explosion was triggered when one of the men touched the live bomb. Israel has killed several Palestinian militants in pinpointed attacks, including bombings. But, Israel denied involvement in this blast, saying the explosives apparently were meant for an attack on Israelis and went off prematurely.

At least one member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah was killed by the blast. Azzam Mizhir, a 30-year old member of Fatah, was killed. Kamal al-Sharayaa, 32, and Rida al-Khaled, 35, and Mahmud Habash, 32, were injured in the car. Ashraya and Habash were Fatah members, while al-Khaled was a member of George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Hadera, Israel (EmergencyNet News) -- At least thirty (30) people have been wounded today in what appears to be a another suicide car bombing directed against civilians. The incident happened near the intersection of Herbert Samuel and Rambam Streets, at the entrance to the central bus station. Emergency Medical Service (EMS) officials said that most of the injuries were light to moderate. Few other details were immediately available, and EmergencyNet Net News continues to monitor the security in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. We'll bring you additional details as they become available... (www.IsraelNationalNews.com contributed to this report)

In what the Islamic militant group HAMAS said was a suicide attack marking the anniversary of Israel's troop withdrawal from Lebanon, a Palestinian truck drove at high speed toward a heavily fortified Israeli army post on Friday and exploded under Israeli fire. There were no casualties among Israeli troops. The army sealed off the area around the Netzarim junction along Gaza's main north-south road, and did not say what happened to the driver.

In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, HAMAS said: "We send our best regards to our brothers in Hezbollah, and we renew our congratulations on the first anniversary of the liberation." An Israeli army spokesman said the incident began when Israeli army vehicles blocked the Netzarim junction to Palestinian traffic to enable Israeli vehicles to pass. Suddenly the driver accelerated towards the post, the soldiers fired warning shots at him and the vehicle blew up.

Soon afterwards, Israeli forces entered Palestinian controlled areas of the Gaza Strip. Tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles entered Palestinian territory in two areas - near Netzarim and near the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel. In a separate development, the burnt body of an Israeli civilian, missing since Wednesday, was found near the autonomous Palestinian town of Tulkarm in the Gaza Strip.

Following the failed suicide attack in the Gaza Strip, the spiritual head of HAMAS warned that its suicide bombers would continue their operations against the Israelis. Terrorist leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said: "If the Israeli army thinks its positions are impregnable it is mistaken, because we have candidates for martyrdom who will know how to hit the Israelis wherever they are."

The army said the Israeli military aircraft shot down a small Lebanese civilian plane on Thursday after it crossed into Israel's air space and for 15 minutes refused to respond to radio contact. The pilot was believed to be the only person on board the Cessna, which crashed down on Israel's Mediterranean coast, about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. The plane took off from the Lebanese capital Beirut, and was spotted by the military as it crossed into Israel. Few other details were immediately available.

Sources say the Israeli army was apparently on alert for fear of attacks from Hezbollah guerrillas on the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May last year. Hezbollah has continued to carry out occasional attacks on a disputed patch of land on the border between Lebanon and Israel. The day is being marked as a public holiday in Lebanon with official celebrations to mark the liberation.

Israeli tanks reportedly fired shells while thrusting into a Palestinian-ruled area in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a mortar attack. Israel's army said two mortar rounds slammed into a farm in Netzarim, a Jewish Gaza Strip settlement, after dawn. Witnesses in the Gaza Strip said an Israeli tank fired shells and machineguns while thrusting more than 900 yards into vineyards of a nearby Palestinian-ruled area.

The Israeli army said it had gone in 200 meters and left. No one was wounded on either side. On Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank, while in the Gaza Strip 38 Palestinians, including 15 children, were wounded in a heated gun battle between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops.

Also on Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen fired again on the Jewish settlement of Gilo, which Israelis view as a Jerusalem neighborhood, seriously wounding an 84-year-old man. Witnesses said Israeli troops returned fire for less than a minute. At least 444 Palestinians, 88 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in late September.

Palestinians said Israeli tanks entered three areas of the Gaza Strip and shelled a police post on Wednesday, a day after Israel announced that it would observe a unilateral truce. Palestinian officials dismissed Israel's truce announcement as a public relations ploy, and said calm can only be restored once Israel halts settlement construction.

A senior Israeli general has warned that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could continue for years unless Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat takes a tough decision to call a halt to the violence. Chief of army operations, Major General Giora Eiland, said Israel was ready to accept the ceasefire recommended by the Mitchell report, but the Palestinians would have to take a "realistic and serious approach" to the latest proposals. He said Israel believed the situation was reversible, despite the recent escalation of violence.

The General also defended Israel's use of F-16 fighter jets in retaliation for a suicide bombing on 18 May by the extremist group HAMAS. He argued that, unlike a bomb planted with the aim of maximizing civilian casualties, an F16 was an accurate weapon, which in this case was used to eliminate a specific target. General Eiland said the F16 attack was justified, arguing that the Palestinian Authority had in the past few months given what he described as "terrorist" groups "full freedom to operate."

The senior officer said he thought the time had come to show that not only was the army defending its people but showing that there was "a cost" not only on the "Israeli side of the line" but also on the Palestinian. But he stopped short of saying Israel was at war with the Palestinians. He said: "We believe that the Palestinians understand that a war is a lose, lose game. We are not interested in war."

According to the Israeli army, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Monday and Israeli helicopters rocketed what was called a mortar factory but Palestinians described as a workshop for spare car parts. The violence came ahead of formal publication of an international commission's findings, already widely read, on how to stop eight months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The U.S. is said to be trying to put together a package deal for renewing peace talks that would include some of the Mitchell Commission recommendations. Click here to read excerpts from the Mitchell report posted by the Miami Herald...

In what was considered to be a further worsening of the Middle East conflict, Israeli helicopter gun-ships attacked a Palestinian target in Gaza. Earlier, Israeli tanks shelled the home of the Palestinian security chief in the West Bank, wounding a number of security guards.

The Israeli air force says it was targeting a mortar factory at Jabaliya refugee camp, just outside Gaza City in the helicopter raids early on Monday. In a statement following the attack, the Israeli military said it would use whatever means necessary to protect its citizens. It said the target of Monday's attack was a factory, which, it said, produced mortar bombs used in anti-Israeli attacks.

The statement also said: "Since the beginning of the violent events, the Palestinians fired more than 160 mortar bombs, which led to the wounding of 12 Israeli civilians and one Israeli soldier."

The Palestinians, however, say the Israeli strike destroyed a cement factory and a bookshop and injured four people. On Sunday, Israeli tanks also shelled the home of Jibril Rajoub, considered a moderate in the Palestinian leadership. Israeli radio reported that the country's security cabinet resolved on Sunday "to continue to strike at Palestinian terrorists in a focused and pinpointed manner."

A defiant Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in comments published on Sunday that Israel will do "what it takes" to protect its people. Israel is facing a barrage of criticism for the decision to employ warplanes against the Palestinians in retaliation for a terrorist bombing. Sharon was convening top Cabinet ministers on Sunday after two days of violence that claimed the lives of six Israelis and 16 Palestinians, including a suicide bomber who blew himself up outside an Israeli shopping center on Friday morning.

Security was tight in preparation for Monday's "Jerusalem Day," when Israel plans a series of marches in Jerusalem to show support for maintaining all of the city as the Jewish state's capital. The Palestinians are demanding the part that Israel occupied in 1967 - including the Old City with its Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy sites - as their future capital, and the matter was one of the main sticking points in negotiations that broke down last year.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres defended the use of force against the Palestinians. Peres, who was arriving Sunday in Moscow for meetings on Mideast peace, said: "We don't take any actions on our own initiative. Our action is a reaction to Palestinian actions, which are very cruel and aggressive toward Israel." He said he was looking forward to meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Monday and hearing Russia's view of the current situation in the Middle East.

Also on Sunday, an Israel soldier was shot and wounded by Palestinian gunfire in the West Bank on Sunday. The soldier was moderately wounded at an army outpost in Psagot, a Jewish settlement east of the West Bank town of Ramallah. Army radio said the soldier was hit by a bullet in the abdomen while he was standing in his tank's turret.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli gunboats fired over the heads of Palestinian fishermen in the Mediterranean sea, while Israeli tanks and bulldozers razed Palestinian farmland in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinians, the tanks and bulldozers crossed 20 yards into territory under shared control near the border with Egypt. The army denied that it warships had attacked targets in the Gaza Strip, saying such claims were baseless.

The Israeli army reported a number of incidents that caused no casualties. A roadside bomb was detonated near troops in the Rafah area, the army said, adding that shots were fired and two firebombs thrown at an army post in the area, while two mortar rounds landed in greenhouses of the Gadid settlement in the Gush Katif settlement. In the West Bank, shots were fired on troops near the settlement of Alfei Menashe in the north and at Rachel's Tomb, a heavily fortified Jewish shrine on the edge of Bethlehem, and an Israeli vehicle near the settlement of Kedar, near Maale Adumim north of Jerusalem.

In a second day of air attacks in retaliation for a suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping mall, Israeli helicopters fired rockets at Palestinian security compounds in two West Bank towns on Saturday. Helicopter gunships attacked security installations in Jenin and Tulkarem. The Jenin compound was hit by eight rockets. The new air raids came as tens of thousands of Palestinians, clamoring for revenge, buried 11 policemen killed in a rocket attack on the West Bank town of Nablus a day earlier.

A surge of violence has killed at least 20 people in 24 hours. In the latest assault, helicopters rocketed the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the north West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarm, wounding at least 20 Palestinians, mainly civilians. Also on Saturday, Palestinian security and hospital sources reported that Israeli troops killed a Palestinian paramilitary policeman during a clash in the West Bank and a Palestinian farmer in the Gaza strip.

On Friday, Israel used F-16s for the first time in an eight-month-long Palestinian uprising against military occupation, killing at least 12 people. The fighter-bombers struck Palestinian security compounds in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following a suicide bombing that killed six people in the coastal town of Netanya. Friday was one the most violent days since the Palestinian uprising erupted last September.

Palestinian security sources said a paramilitary policeman was killed in a shootout on Saturday in the village of Silet al-Harthia near Jenin, also in the north of the West Bank. The security sources said the policeman was killed after an Israeli undercover unit tried to enter a Palestinian-ruled area. Palestinian hospital sources said Israeli troops also shot and killed a 30-year-old man as he worked in his field near the Karni commercial crossing in Gaza. Israeli police detonated a bomb placed in a Jerusalem cafe on Saturday morning. No one was injured. The death toll since the Palestinians began their uprising is now at least 440 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 87 Israelis.

Funerals for Friday's victims over the weekend could serve as new flashpoints for violence. A commercial strike was called for Saturday in the West Bank and parts of the Gaza Strip as a mark of respect for the Palestinians killed in Friday's violence. The Islamic militant group HAMAS claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

-- MORNING (Friday 18th May)- An army officer is shot dead while driving near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

-- 11:30am - A HAMAS suicide bomber kills himself and six Israelis in the worst terrorist attack since the beginning of the eight-month-old uprising. More than 100 people are injured.

-- 4:30pm - One person is killed and another seriously injured in a shooting near the Shomron community of N'vei Tzuf.

LATE AFTERNOON / EVENING - The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launches retaliatory strikes against Palestinian targets in Gaza and the West Bank killing nine and injuring at least 50.

-- 3:00am (Saturday 19th May) - No casualties are reported when a powerful explosion rips through a Cafe in Jerusalem. The Cafe on Ben Yehouda road was one of only a few open during the Jewish Sabbeth, and badly damaged in the explosion.

-- 12:00pm - The IDF launches strikes against the elite Force 17 guards headquarters in Tulkarem, wounding 25 people. The IDF claims they attacked two "terrorist targets" in the area of Judea and Samaria.

An Islamic terrorist detonated explosives strapped to his body killing himself and six other people outside a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on Friday morning. Hours later the terrorist organization HAMAS claimed responsibility for the bombing, considered the worst attack in the history of the eight-month-old Palestinian uprising.

Shortly before 11:30am, a young girl shopping with her father noticed a man acting suspiciously with what appeared to be a belt of explosives concealed under a large jacket. She alerted her father who contacted police but was placed on hold, despite yelling desperately for help into the phone. Witnesses said the man then paced up and down in front of HaSharon shopping mall for several minuted before detonating the explosives directly in front of the main doors, destroying the building's front facade.

According to IsraelNationalNews.com, police and emergency services evacuated 100 people to the Hillel Yafeh Hospital in Hadera, Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, and Laniado Hospital in Netanya. At least 55 people had been discharged by mid-afternoon.

The blast was so powerful that the lower half of two bodies could be seen intertwined at the scene and a detached leg was wrapped around a lighting pole, which was slightly bent over by the blast. Another body lay nearby surrounded by pieces of skin and body-parts -- possibly from the suicide bomber.

Immediately after the explosion, police secured the area closing nearby Herzl street to all vehicles and pedestrians.

HAMAS leader Ahmed Yassin said the bombing was in retaliation for the killing of five Palestinian policemen by Israeli security forces earlier this week. He announced over loudspeakers in a Palestinian settlement that Israel was to blame for the suicide bombing. "Israel planted the violence by killing innocent people... now Israel is harvesting the reaction," he said.

Two other terrorist organizations, the Hizbullah-Palestine and Izzadin el-Kassam, also claimed responsibility for the attack. But analysts say the bombing bears the hallmarks of the HAMAS Qassam Brigades. A senior Palestinian security official later identified the bomber as HAMAS terrorist Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash, 21 years-old, from Tolkarm in the West Bank.

Earlier this year HAMAS vowed to launch up to a dozen suicide attacks on Israeli targets, Friday's attack was number nine. Islamic militants have targeted Netanya, which is only six miles from Palestinian territory, several times in the past few months.

The Palestinian Authority was quick to condemn the attack and called on the Israeli government to show restraint in its response. "The Palestinian National Authority condemns operations aimed at civilians and innocent people, be it Palestinians or Israelis... stopping this deterioration (of the situation) requires wisdom and does not need an angry response and more shellings and killings," said Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, an adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, in a statement. But at the scene of the suicide bombing, restraint by onlookers was not apparent as more than 50 people chanted loudly "Death to Arabs."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reacted to the bombing by convening an emergency meeting, raising speculation that Israel was planning to retaliate by attacking Palestinian security installations, as it has done on previous occasions. A spokesman for Sharon's cabinet said, "The responsibility lies squarely on the Palestinian Authority. They are the government of these people... Israel can't stand by and do nothing."

U.S. President George Bush condemned the bombing in a press conference held at the White House. Bush told reporters, "Violence will not lead to peace... violence will make it so difficult for there to be any political settlement."

President Bush urged all sides to "break the cycle of violence" and engage in meaningful discussion about settling violence in the Middle East.

One person was killed and a second seriously wounded in a shooting near the Shomron community of N'vei Tzuf, Friday afternoon. According to IsraelNationalNews.com, a wounded female victim was transported to the Tel HaShomer Medical Center in Tel Aviv where her condition was described as moderate-to-serious. Few other details about the shooting are currently available...

NETANYA, ISRAEL (EmergencyNet News) -- A suicide bomber has killed six people and wounded 60 others in the coastal resort of Netanya. The incident took place at the entrance to the 'HaSharon' shopping center in Netanya. Analysts believe the bomber may be part of a cadre of suicide bombers belonging to the HAMAS terrorist organization who have conducted a series of similar attacks in the region during the past eight months. Some of the details of the bombing remain sketchy and EmergencyNet News will file additional reports more information becomes available...

After large-scale confrontations a day earlier, a 14-year-old Palestinian was killed in a stone-throwing clash in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The youth was shot in the chest and the abdomen by Israeli troops after the clash broke out at Netzarim Junction in central Gaza. Two more Palestinians were wounded by gunfire.

Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians and wounded more than 200 on Tuesday during the commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba or "catastrophe" when some 700,000 Palestinians became refugees in the Arab-Israeli war following Israel's creation. A 21-year-old Jewish settler was fatally shot and her father was slightly hurt when Palestinian gunmen fired on their car on a West Bank road. On Tuesday, Palestinians took to the streets, fanning their revolt for statehood.

At least 424 Palestinians, 80 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the uprising erupted. Gunfire echoed throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip long into Tuesday night. Security sources said a mortar round smashed a Jewish settlement house in Gaza while others slammed into Israel.

Israeli tanks fired shells at Palestinian towns. A bodyguard to Islamic militant HAMAS founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed when Israeli tanks fired on a HAMAS unit seen firing a mortar from inside Gaza. Soldiers shot and killed a second Palestinian in a separate incident.

All over the Palestinian territories, Israelis fired tear gas, rubber-bullets and live ammunition at Palestinians, who were throwing rocks and firebombs. Palestinian gunmen also took part in the shootings. A French television reporter was saved from serious injury or death when his flak jacket stopped a bullet apparently fired by an Israeli border policeman.

Israeli Fire Kills Five Palestinian Policemen

Five Palestinian policemen manning a roadside checkpoint in the West Bank were killed by Israeli fire on Monday, and Israeli helicopters rocketed Palestinian security targets in the Gaza Strip, destroying ten armored vehicles. Thousands of Palestinians chanting "revenge" gathered outside a West Bank hospital for a memorial procession for the policemen who will eventually be buried near their homes in the Gaza Strip. The officers, ages 17 to 29, were killed by shots to the head and chest at a small Palestinian police outpost near the West Bank town of Beituniya.

The Israeli army said that soldiers opened fire on "suspicious figures," but the exact circumstances of the incident are in dispute. A Palestinian spokesman accused the Israelis of opening fire without reason near a road- block at Beituniya, located west of Ramallah. It was the highest Palestinian death toll in recent months since the Palestinian uprising began last September.

Israel carried out missile and artillery attacks on targets across Gaza overnight in response to what it described as "continuing Palestinian terrorist activities." Warships off the coast fired shells at Palestinian naval police positions in central Gaza, while helicopter gunships attacked Palestinian armored vehicles north of Khan Younis, near the Jabalya refugee camp. Palestinian sources said at least 15 people were wounded in the Gaza bombardment.

Meanwhile, Israeli positions were reported to have come under missile attack in the disputed Shebaa Farms area near the Lebanese-Israeli frontier. Witnesses said the Israeli army responded by shelling southern Lebanon. There are no reports of casualties.

Analysts in Jerusalem say the latest violence amounts to an intensification of the conflict, with the approach of the anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel on Tuesday. Palestinians call it al-Nakba day, a reference to what they commonly call "the catastrophe" of 1948.

Israeli forces moved deep into Palestinian territory after a grenade attack on a military post today. Near a main intersection in central Gaza, Palestinians threw hand grenades at an Israeli outpost, and Israel responded by sending tanks and a bulldozer 700 yards into Palestinian-controlled territory, their deepest penetration yet. A police post and five houses were destroyed.

The Israeli military has said there will be no let-up in the army incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Military sources quoted on Israeli radio said the Fatah movement of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, along with Palestinian security and bodyguard units were now considered enemies.

The Israeli army is reported to have penetrated about 700 yards into the Palestinian-controlled town of Deir el-Balah on Friday morning, destroying a police position and five houses. Analysts say operations by Israeli troops which involve temporarily moving into Palestinian-controlled areas to flush out gunmen are becoming almost routine.

A senior adviser of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted the Gaza incursions were part of a long-term military effort to suppress the Palestinian uprising. Dore Gold said:"This is not tit for tat. This is a long-term strategy. It will be a continuous effort and only with determination, with patience as well as perseverance can we bring an end to this violence."

Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops battled late into Thursday night near Rafah, close to the Egypt-Gaza border. Palestinian sources say one Palestinian was wounded in an exchange of fire. And security officials said the army also barred all Palestinian traffic on the main highways linking the north and the south of the Gaza Strip, effectively cutting the territory in two.

Israeli police say they will restrict access on Friday to the Jerusalem holy site Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Haram al-Sharif. Only men over the age of 25 will be allowed to pray at the site on the Islamic holy day.

Two 14-year-old Israeli boys were found bludgeoned to death in a cave near a Jewish West Bank settlement on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said they were victims of "Palestinian terror." Sharon held the Palestinian Authority responsible, saying it has done nothing to stop attacks on Israelis. Settlers demanded that Sharon declare Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat an enemy of Israel and try to bring down his government.

The two youths, both aged 14, had been reported missing on Tuesday after going for a walk outside the Tekoa Jewish settlement near Bethlehem. Police suspect the boys, who came from the settlement, were stoned to death by Palestinian militants. Palestinian-Israeli tensions have risen since a four-month-old baby was killed by Israeli shrapnel during a bombardment of a refugee camp in Gaza on Monday.

Israeli soldiers carrying out the search for the killers arrested four Bedouin shepherds who inhabit the area. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the "horrifying murders" outside Tekoa amounted to "another escalation in the terrorist activities and violence carried out by the Palestinians against an innocent civilian population." Palestinian security officials said that after the news of the boys' death, Jewish settlers threw stones at Palestinian cars and the Israeli army sealed off the nearby Arab village of Tuqu.

On Tuesday, a body of another Israeli settler, who had been shot and stabbed, was found near the settlement of Itamar, south of Nablus. Analysts say a clear pattern has been emerging in the latest Israel-Palestinian violence, with Palestinian militants increasingly focusing their attentions on Israeli settlements and those that live in them.

Israeli police said a woman was slightly injured by a bomb that exploded in a Tel Aviv suburb. The blast happened near a bus station in Petah Tikva during the morning rush hour. The police said the bomb was placed in a garbage bin. Israel radio reported that four mortar bombs were fired from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday, hitting an area near the Israeli town of Sderot. Nobody was hurt.

Palestinian militants have carried out several attacks inside Israel since the uprising against Israeli rule began seven months ago. Petah Tikva has been targeted twice before. In further violence on Saturday, a Palestinian intelligence headquarters in the West Bank town of Jericho came under missile attack. Palestinian officials said a number of people were wounded and mobile trailers based there were set on fire.

An activist from the Fatah movement of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was killed on Sunday in a shootout with Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Beit Jala. The 45-year-old militant was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops who had entered an area which agremeents placed under total Palestinian control, in a hunt for armed Palestinians. A total of 21 other Palestinians, including two children and a member of "Force 17" were wounded in the shootout.

Israeli radio said that troops had advanced on positions from where Palestinian gunmen were firing near a road tunnel used mainly by Jewish settlers and troops. One Israeli soldier was slightly hurt. Earlier a military spokesman said the army had responded with machine-gun and tank fire when two of its positions near the tunnel came under Palestinian fire.

Sunday's death brought to 511 the number of people killed as a direct result of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation which broke out on 28 September. They comprise of 422 Palestinians, 75 Israelis, 13 Israeli Arabs and one German.

An Islamic Jihad militant was shot to death by Israeli soldiers near the West Bank town of Bethlehem early on Saturday. Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said Israeli special forces had fired more than 20 shos at 35-year-old Ahmed Khalil Esaa Ismail in the village of Ertass, close to Bethlehem. The Israel army said it had no record of an operation or disturbances in the area. The Palestinians accuse Israel of a deliberate assassination. Israel maintains the right to strike at Palestinians planning or executing attacks, but denies that this amounts to a policy of assassination.

Israeli tanks reportedly fired four artillery rounds on Saturday at buildings of the Palestinian intelligence services in Jericho, wounding at least four people. Flames engulfed parts of the building complex, consisting of around ten huts, and four cars were also destroyed. The shells were fired from an Israeli position overlooking the Palestinian-controlled town of Jericho on a mountain known as Jabal Krontol.

Israeli bulldozers Rolled into Palestinian-controlled territory on Wednesday near the border with Egypt to destroy at least ten buildings, and an ensuing clash killed one Palestinian youth. Machine gun fire was used as cover during the operation at Rafah. Hospital officials said a 17-year-old male was killed and at least 15 Palestinians were wounded.

The bulldozers leveled houses about 100 yards inside the Brazil refugee camp, as well as farmland and greenhouses. Palestinian forces fired anti-tank rockets in response. An Israeli army spokesman said: "They were using civilian buildings to shoot on us and we had to prevent future shootings from these buildings."

Twelve civilians, including some children, were wounded by Israeli tank shrapnel. Palestinian radio also reported the death of a member of the Palestinian security forces in shelling of the area. A Palestinian officer in southern Gaza told the radio that the Israelis had launched their operation at 2300 hours local time (2000 GMT) on Tuesday and withdrew at 0200 hours.

On Tuesday, a Jewish settler was shot and killed in a roadside ambush and two Palestinians were killed - one by Israeli troops and another, a suspected informer, ambushed by a masked assailant in the West Bank. Seven months of fighting has left about 500 people - most of them Palestinians - dead.

An Israeli motorist was killed and another was wounded in West Bank shooting ambushes on Tuesday, a day after two mysterious explosions killed five Palestinians, including a militant wanted by Israel and two children. The Palestinians blamed Israel for the blast that killed the youngsters, ages 3 and 7. Israel's army denied the allegations.

An Israeli truck driver was killed in a shooting in the West Bank. His vehicle overturned after coming under fire near the town of Ramallah. The other Israeli motorist was shot and wounded near the West Bank town of Nablus.

The most powerful explosion leveled a two-story apartment building near the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. It killed at least two people. The building was across the street from the headquarters of Arafat, who was unhurt. Two earlier explosions in the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians, including a member of the militant group, HAMAS.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired mortar rounds at Jewish settlement areas, the army said. Palestinians said five people were slightly injured in the army's return heavy machinegun and tank fire. Reports on Monday night said two mortar rounds were fired at the Gadit Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Monday, a bomb exploded in a parked car belonging to a Jewish settler in Gaza, killing one Palestinian and wounding one. The man killed in the blast had been working in the Rafiah Yam settlement at the time. In Gaza City, a van blew up in a garage, killing two Palestinians, brothers-in-law aged 22 and 17, and wounding three in a nearby building. The exact circumstances were not clear.

In the West Bank, a 38-year-old Palestinian was shot to death in the village of Hableh as he tried to flee what residents said was an Israeli undercover raid. The man was described by villagers as a collaborator with Israel.

Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Israelis and Palestinians were working towards a ceasefire with possible new peace talks four weeks later. The announcement came as violent clashes continue in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Israel has agreed to ease security measures imposed on Palestinians.

While Egypt and Israel were exploring ways to calm the violence, Israeli troops shelled Palestinian areas and there was another mortar attack against a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, the Palestinian Authority said it had acted to prevent further mortar attacks against Jewish settlements in Gaza, dissolving a committee of the Fatah movement thought to be responsible. An official in Gaza quoted the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as telling the council meeting: "The firing of mortar shells must stop."

In another apparent effort to calm the situation, Palestinian police arrested Abdul Aziz Rantissi, a political leader of the radical HAMAS movement for his "criticisms and threats" against the Palestinian Authority. Rantissi made outspoken calls at a rally on Friday condemning the idea of a ceasefire with Israel and criticizing any return to Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation.

Proposals put forward jointly by Egypt and Jordan include a series of confidence-building measures under which Israel would lift its siege of Palestinian-controlled areas and pull back its troops, in return for the Palestinians resuming security cooperation.

A Palestinian was reportedly killed on Sunday morning when a bomb exploded close to a school bus carrying Jewish settler children near the West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli Army radio said the body of a possible suicide bomber had been found in a car nearby. Palestinians also fired several mortars at the Kfar Darom settlement in Gaza, in defiance of Arafat's statement.

Sunday's violence followed overnight battles in the Gaza Strip which left four Palestinians, including a young woman and 12-year-old child, wounded by Israeli tank fire. On Saturday afternoon, five Israeli teenagers were wounded, one of them seriously, when mortar rounds hit the Netzer Hazani settlement. Israeli soldiers also shot and killed a Palestinian man near the town of Bethlehem as he was driving home with his five-year-old son.

In another incident, an Israeli soldier was killed and a woman injured when their car came under fire from a suspected Palestinian gunman as they were driving near the Arab town of Um el-Fahem, northeast of Tel Aviv.

Palestinians reportedly fired a mortar round at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip early on Saturday. The Israeli army said a mortar round struck the Nisanit settlement in the Gaza Strip in the early hours. Two mortar bombs earlier hit the Kfar Darom settlement in the southern part of the strip.

Soldiers returning fire wounded two Palestinians. No Israeli casualties were reported. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the mortar attack in southern Gaza and the military wing of the HAMAS movement claimed a roadside bomb that wounded two Israelis near a Jewish settlement on Friday.

A Fatah statement said its men had fired mortar rounds at Jewish settlements in southern Gaza to avenge the "terrible massacre" of four of its fighters, killed on Thursday by an explosion Palestinians blamed on an Israeli remote-controlled bomb. Israel has denied it was behind the blast. Israeli troops shot and wounded 22 Palestinians in Friday's clashes in Gaza and the West Bank, where a protest near Ramallah developed into a full-scale shootout.

A Palestinian civilian was reported killed on Friday by Israeli fire as he was walking near an Israeli military position at Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The 37-year-old man was shot by troops guarding the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, near the Israeli village of Kissufim. This latest death brought to 496 the number of people killed as a direct result of the Palestinian uprising which broke out seven months ago.

Four Palestinians were killed and six others were wounded by an explosion in Rafah on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. It is still not clear what caused the blast, but there are reports that it could have been a bomb. The blast came as Israel marked its independence day, maintaining a total blockade on Palestinian areas.

Ghazi Jibali, the Gaza police commander, was quoted as saying that three bombs had been planted in a school and that Palestinian police defused two of the devices, while the third exploded. He said the devices had been planted by Palestinian collaborators. But other reports said a device had exploded after being prodded by local civilians and that they - not policemen - were killed. Conflicting reports continue to come in to EmergencyNet News as to the actual cause and circumstances of this latest blast.

The explosion came amid tightened security as Israel began independence day celebrations marking its 53rd birthday. Israel imposed a total blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and warned people to look out for suspect packages and people. Israelis are concerned that bombers might have slipped through the security net before the borders were closed.

Fatah, the movement of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, threatened to avenge the deaths of those in the blast. A Fatah statement said: "This odious crime will not go unpunished. This crime was orchestrated by Israel's terrorist government and occupation forces." After the blast, a Fatah official and Palestinian security sources accused the Israeli army of having set off the explosive device from a distance.

Palestinian officials said Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian farmer in the Gaza Strip. The man was said to be working in a citrus grove near the Israeli-Gaza border when troops on the other side of the wire fence opened fire. An Israeli spokesman said the army fired warning shots when the man crossed the fence and then shot at him when he didn't stop.

The USA Today reported on Thursday that for the first time, two mainstream factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization will be cited in the U.S. State Department's (DoS) annual report on terrorism. Citing Israeli accusations, U.S. officials told the newspaper that the report will say that Fatah and its Tanzim youth wing took part in terrorist activities against Israel during the current Palestinian uprising. USA Today said the groups would not be labeled "foreign terrorist organizations," a designation which would require the U.S. to end relations with them.

The unnamed officials told the newspaper that the report will not directly address the question of whether Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of other top Palestinians ordered attacks against Israelis. The DoS report is due to be released next week.

In related developments, other State Dept. sources are telling EmergencyNet News that the soon-to-be-released annual terrorism report will only mention Usama Bin Laden, alleged terrorist mastermind of several attacks on the United States, in passing. Reportedly, some intelligence and State Dept. officials believe that Bin Laden has received too much press in recent years, thus adding to his stature and assisting in his recruiting efforts. Several counter-terrorism (CT) analysts told EmergencyNet News today that they doubt leaving Bin Laden out of the DoS report will diminish his popularity in the Muslim world, or reduce the possibility of further terrorist attacks by Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization...

Bin Laden Organization Allegedly Trying To Establish Presence in Palestinian Territories

Israeli authorities said on Tuesday that they captured a man suspected of having been in a training camp run by master terrorist Usama bin Laden as he was trying to enter the Gaza Strip at the Rafiah border crossing point with Egypt. An arrested HAMAS activist had previously confessed that he was sent to the Gaza Strip to set up a bin Laden base. There is serious concern that the establishment of a bin Laden financed organization in the territories will erode Yasser Arafat's control over the Palestinian political scene. The presence of a bin Laden organization could increase the possibility of continued violence while complicating attempts to arrive at a long-lasting solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ERRI analysts said that they suspect that "non-state actors," possibly with links to Afghanistan, are using Kosovo, Kashmir and Israel/Gaza as "terrorist training grounds," where terror-bombers can learn to ply their trade.

Meanwhile, Israeli security forces are on heightened alert in preparation for Soldiers' Memorial Day and Independence Day in Israel on 25 and 26 April. There is concern that Islamic militants may seek to stage terrorist attacks on Israeli cities on these days.

On Tuesday night, Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip and West Bank to coincide with the independence day celebrations. An Israeli military spokesman said that the closure will be lifted at 02:00 hours local time on Friday (23:00GMT on Thursday).

Independence day is regarded with resentment by many Palestinians, who see it as a celebration of the day their land was stolen from them. Earlier, Israel said it had lifted its blockade of the West Bank town of Jericho, following security talks with Palestinian officials mediated by the United States.

In another day of violence in the Middle East, a Palestinian boy was shot to death in the Gaza Strip while four people were injured by a car bomb in Israel. Palestinian officials said Israeli troops opened fire during a funeral procession for a Palestinian policeman near the Khan Younis refugee camp, killing a 12-year-old boy. In a separate incident, Israeli army radio said at least four people were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Israeli town of Or Yehuda, southeast of Tel Aviv.

Analysts say the violence has almost acquired its own momentum, and with each killing and bombing the emotions are entrenched on both sides. Witnesses said hundreds of mourners were marching in an orderly fashion in the funeral near Khan Younis when a traditional mourning volley of gunfire was released. Israeli troops then opened fire from an army post about 500 yards away. The 12-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head.

In what was said to be the third in two days, there was another bomb attack on Israelis early Monday. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the bomb was detonated near a bus close to the Jewish settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. First reports suggest that no one was injured. The spokeswoman blamed the explosion on Palestinian militants.

Israeli authorities said an explosion late on Sunday in the northern coastal city of Haifa was also caused by a bomb, which they also blamed on Palestinian militants. Three police officers were slightly hurt. Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a bus in a suburb of Tel Aviv, killing one Israeli and wounding more than 40 others.

A Palestinian group, the Popular Army Front, said it was behind the suicide bombing. A PFA statement, which could not be verified, said the bombing fell near the anniversary of Israel's 16 April assassination in Tunis of Khalil al-Wazir, the Palestine Liberation Organization's military chief, also known as Abu Jihad. The blast happened near a bus stop at about 0900 hours local time (0700GMT).

In other news, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and 11 people were wounded during a funeral on Monday. Witnesses said the shots came from the direction of a Jewish settlement guarded by Israeli troops. Israel's army said it was checking the incident.

In the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis, about 1,500 Palestinians joined the funeral procession of a Palestinian policeman who died of injuries sustained during an Israeli rocket attack last week. During the procession, several dozen gunmen fired in the air from time to time. The Khan Yunis cemetery is adjacent to Neve Dekalim, a Jewish settlement guarded by Israeli troops.

After the burial, mourners began dispersing, and witnesses said they suddenly heard long bursts of fire. Mourners sought shelter in abandoned apartment buildings. The witnesses did not see Israeli soldiers shooting, but said the fire came from the direction of the Israeli post.

Also on Monday, the Israeli army said it has arrested a Palestinian man who was carrying an explosive device. Israel radio said the suspect was on his way to the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha and that the IED was set to be detonated by a cellular phone.

A car exploded on Monday in the central Israeli town of Or Yehuda, slightly wounding two people. Police said they did not know whether Palestinian militants were responsible. The parked car exploded close to the market area of Or Yehuda, a working-class town south of Tel Aviv.

Kfar Saba, Israel -- Police and emergency personnel said a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at a crowded intersection in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba on Sunday. Besides killing himself, the bomber also killed one Israeli. At least 19 other people were wounded by the blast. The attacker, believed to be a Palestinian, set off the bomb during morning rush hour just as a bus was pulling up to the intersection. Those injured were inside the bus and at the bus stop. One child was seriously wounded.

The blast happened near a bus stop at about 09:00 hours local time (07:00GMT), during the rush hour. Witnesses say the suspected suicide bomber was trying to get onto a bus when the blast occurred. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic militant organization HAMAS described it as an act of self-defense. HAMAS, which carried out a similar attack in Kfar Saba in late March, threatened resistance on Friday to what it called Israeli occupation "by all available means." Kfar Saba, near the West Bank, has been the site of several recent bombings.

More than 460 people have died since the Palestinian uprising began last September - the vast majority of them Palestinians, but also at least 70 Israelis.

Elsewhere, Israeli police said that the body of an Israeli man, bearing signs of an attack, was found in his car near Ramallah in the West Bank. A police spokesman said: "The Palestinian authorities indicated during the night that the body of an Israelian had been found in an Israeli car at Surda, near Ramallah, and we have identified it. It was that of Stanislav Sandovirsky, 38, from Beit Shemesh. According to preliminary inquiries, it was undoubtefly a murder perpetrated for nationalist reasons by the Palestinians."

In other news from Israel, Britain's Sunday Times said a leading Israeli military scientist, who it said helped develop the country's nuclear weapons program, has been detained in Jerusalem and was being questioned about his relationship with a Russian woman who might have had access to his work.

For the third time this week, Israeli tanks and bulldozers have entered a Palestinian-controlled part of Gaza. Firing machine guns as they went, the tanks destroyed a Palestinian security outpost in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said the action was a response to Palestinian firing from the post at Israeli soldiers.

The Palestinians tried to fight off the tanks and bulldozers with gunfire, ut it didn't work. The Israeli forces destroyed a Palestinian security station, about 300 yards into Palestinian territory. There was also heavy gunfire in the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan Younis in Gaza. Israel's army says Palestinians fired an anti-tank round towards a military post. A major battle followed.

There are reports in the Israeli media that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has arrested members of HAMAS who are responsible for firing mortars into Israel.

The Israeli army said it had eased restrictions in the Gaza Strip, shortly after Palestinians fired two mortar rounds into Israel and Syria said it had the right to retaliate for an Israeli air raid. The army said it had lifted roadblocks put in place overnight Monday. The restrictions divided the Gaza Strip into three parts, severely hampering movement and preventing Palestinians from moving between northern and southern Gaza.

While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon feels pressure over the Israeli army's incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have launched fresh mortar attacks on Israel. In the latest attack, five mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip towards the Israeli town of Sederot. No casualties were reported.

Earlier, Israel radio reported mortar shells also fell in Kfar Darom, a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian police post in northern Gaza. Heavy exchanges of fire between Palestinian and Israeli forces were also reported near Bethlehem in the West Bank. The latest Palestinian mortar attack came only hours after a small Israeli force ended a brief incursion into Gaza.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) says it carried out the attack, which followed the destruction of a police border post in southern Gaza by three Israeli tanks and a bulldozer. Israel says fortified posts in Gaza are used by Palestinian gunman to fire at Israeli positions and Jewish settlers.

Sharon has been sharply criticized in Israel for the army's hasty retreat from Gaza - after an army commander had insisted the troops could stay there for "several months" in order to ward off further Palestinian attacks. Analysts in Jerusalem say Sharon now faces a dilemma about how to react. If Israel responds with further violence over mortar attacks it will risk damaging its relations with Washington. If he does not retaliate, his opponents will accuse him of bowing to US pressure.

Israeli Targets Come Under New Mortar Attacks; Danger of Major Escalation Feared

Just hours after Israel completed its withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled territory, the Israeli army said Palestinians fired mortar rounds at a Jewish settlement and a crossing-point in Gaza. An army spokeswoman said no one was injured in the latest attacks. There has also been more heavy fighting reported near Bethlehem and Hebron in the West Bank.

Israeli troops invaded Gaza on Monday in retaliation for a mortar attack on an Israeli town. A military official warned that the army could stay there for months. However, the Israeli forces withdrew 24 hours later after the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, criticized the operation as "excessive and disproportionate."

Late on Tuesday, new fighting broke out between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in and around Bethlehem in the West Bank. During the day, three young Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Some analysts say Washington's reaction to Israel's move in Gaza may have brought the conflict back temporarily from the brink of further disaster. Analysts warn that the key point is that Israel has made it clear that it has embarked on a change of policy. Israel's new policy is that it still retains the right to move into Palestinian areas and to stay there when and where it sees fit.

In what was called retaliation for mortar fire on an Israeli town, Israeli troops seized Palestinian-controlled areas in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday -- a first in seven months of fighting -- and rocketed Palestinian security installations. One Palestinian was killed and 36 others were wounded in the attack from the ground, air and sea -- one of the most extensive Israeli military operations since the fall. Israeli troops also divided Gaza into three parts, barring north-south traffic in the crowded strip of more than one million Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority denied that its forces were behind the firing of several mortar shells at the town of Sderot, three miles from the Gaza border - the deepest attack inside Israeli territory in the past seven months of conflict. Israeli troops also entered Beit Hanun, an area supposedly under full Palestinian control, destroying police positions with bulldozers.

Some analysts say it is perhaps the most significant moment since the start of the Palestinian uprising last September. Both sides are now clearly violating the territorial integrity of the other. Israel says it has no intention of holding onto any Palestinian-controlled territory, but retains the right to send soldiers wherever necessary for what it insists are security reasons.

Targets hit by Israeli forcres included two bases of the elite Palestinian security unit Force-17, and Gaza City's main police headquarters. Palestinian officials said the attacks were the most violent in the past seven months of conflict, and left many injured. In Beit Hanun, Palestinian authorities said one policeman was killed and at least 27 people were injured. There has also been more violence in the West Bank, where Israeli tanks fired at villages near the town of Bethlehem.

U.S.-hosted cease-fire talks between Israelis and Palestinians ended without result on Thursday and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned he would send troops into Palestinian areas again if attacks on Israelis persist. In new violence, a Palestinian farmer was killed and three Israeli soldiers wounded in shootings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security officials came a day after Israeli tanks and bulldozers razed a neighborhood in the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army reported mortar bomb and anti-tank grenade attacks on Jewish settlements and army posts, also in Gaza, and two soldiers wounded by gunfire in southern Gaza near the Israel-Egypt border. In violence elsewhere, an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded by a sniper along a road south of Jerusalem near the Palestinian village of Beit Jala. Israeli fire wounded five Palestinians in Hebron in the West Bank on Wednesday night. At least 375 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have been killed in the violence...

Two Palestinians were killed and about 50 others were injured when Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday. The Israelis destroyed or heavily dmaged 30 homes. The razing triggered an exchange of fire that led to the casualties. The assault was said to be in retaliation for Palestinian mortar fire on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. It marked the first time since the outbreak of fighting in the fall that Israeli ground troops entered Palestinian-controlled territory.

The Israeli army said the operation was launched to remove a sand embankment which, it says, is used by Palestinian gunmen to shoot at nearby Jewish settlements. Palestinians responded to the attack