Israeli soldiers shelled the region near Hebron in the West Bank Friday evening, killing two Palestinians, according to AFP, which also reported that the UN has warned of an imminent collapse of the Palestinian National Authority due to the siege imposed on the territories.
Shaker al-Manasra, 25, who was hit in the neck and Essam al-Tawil, 29, who was wounded in the stomach were killed in the Israeli attack, while collaborators with the Israeli authorities reportedly beat to death a Palestinian intelligence officer.
Another 20 Palestinians were injured in heavy shelling near Hebron, the sources told AFP, although the Israeli army said it was responding to gunfire.
Earlier 26 Palestinians were injured, at least six of them seriously, in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on another weekly "day of rage."
Haaretz reported on Friday evening that Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops exchanged fire at the entrance of Al Beireh town north of Ramallah in the West Bank. The Jewish settlement of Ariel in the West Bank also came under fire Friday evening, added the paper.
The Israeli press reported on the same day shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip. A bus transporting workers from the area came under fire Friday morning. Several bullets hit the bus but no injuries were reported. Shots were also fired at an army jeep accompanying the bus. Shooting incidents took place for several hours in the area causing the industrial zone to be closed temporarily, according to Haaretz.
Three shooting incidents also took place earlier Friday morning along the Israel-Egypt border, it said.
Earlier in the day, Palestinians collaborating with Israel killed an officer at the Palestinian intelligence near the town of Salfit in the West Bank, said reports.
Lieutenant Anwar Mustafa Mari’, 33, was beaten to death at his residence in the village of Karawat Bani Hassaan by anonymous persons, in an attack believed to be a revengeful act against the officer who took part in arresting and executing collaborators convicted for working for Israeli security agencies.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks, while a top UN official warned that the Palestinian Authority was close to collapse, said AFP late Friday.
In a statement, Annan said Israel's economic blockade of the West Bank and Gaza "deprive the Palestinian Authority (PA) of necessary financial resources and aggravate the serious economic and social crisis in the occupied territories."
The statement said Annan had told Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon that he was "very concerned about the capacity of the Palestinian Authority to continue to function".
Earlier, said the agency, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, said "the fiscal crisis is acute" and "Palestinian institutions may crumble in the very near future."
The crisis flowed from Israel's decision to withhold transfers to the PA of value added tax (VAT) collected by Israeli customs officials, he told a news conference.
Roed-Larsen said 50 million dollars a month was needed "to keep the PA afloat," and that the money held back by Israel already totalled 54 million dollars.
The PA was relying on a bank overdraft to pay the salaries of its doctors, teachers and civil servants for February and "within a few weeks it will be unable to pay salaries at all," he said.
"The fiscal crisis could lead to an institutional collapse, which will lead to further violence," he went on.
He added: "We already have a situation in parts of the West Bank and Gaza where we do not feel the PA is completely in control."
In his statement, issued by his spokesman Fred Eckhard, Annan expressed "grave concern at the growing cycle of violence and counter-violence."
Warning that further violence could have "very serious consequences for the entire region," he called on both sides to "exercise maximum restraint and caution, and to resume their dialogue in order to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace."
Annan said he had instructed Roed-Larsen to undertake urgent consultations to prevent the destabilization of the Palestinian territories.
Roed-Larsen said he would visit Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday for talks with senior US State Department and White House officials.
He said he had "discussed transfers of 60 million euros in budget support from the European Union" with EU officials in Brussels last week but so far only 10 million dollars had been made available, by Norway.
"We need the (tax) money and the support of the European Union to get the PNA through the months of February and March," he went on.
"After that it will absolutely necessary to transfer Arab pledges of one billion dollars to get the PNA through the rest of the year."
It was "inconceivable that the EU countries will go on paying without some burden-sharing," by the Arab states, he said.
He noted that in September, before the current violence began in the West Bank and Gaza, unemployment was running at between 10 and 11 percent and the PNA had managed to balance its budget.
Unemployment was now at an average of 38 percent, and exceeded 50 percent in some areas, where people were living below the poverty level of 2.10 dollars a day, he said.
"The crisis in living conditions leads to crisis in attitudes," he said, adding that "a clear majority of Palestinians" were now opposed to the peace process and that support for extremist organizations was rising.
More than 120,000 Palestinian workers used to have jobs inside Israel, but the majority has been denied their daily bread after the outbreak of the Intifada late September.
Palestinian officials have said that all the economic sectors in the Palestinian lands have been harmed by the continuous closure of the territories and the siege imposed on the Palestinian people – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
