Israeli tanks have shelled two refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday after three Israeli soldiers were wounded by Palestinian gunmen earlier in the day, said reports.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli tanks shelled Rafah refugee camp after two soldiers were wounded by Palestinian fire earlier in the day, a Palestinian security official told AFP.
The official said a mosque was partially destroyed.
At the same time an intense gun-battle raged between Palestinians and Israeli troops manning the nearby border with Egypt.
Before opening fire, the Israeli army had threatened to "totally destroy" that part of the camp from where Palestinians had allegedly fired on an Israeli military post, slightly wounding two soldiers.
Israeli tanks have also shelled Beit Jala refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah after one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops.
According to The Jerusalem Post newspaper, a tank has shelled a house where armed Palestinians reportedly fired a heavy machine-gun at an army position injuring the soldier.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that Israeli soldiers fired tear gas into a girls' school in al-Khader village near Bethlehem, triggering clashes that left two Palestinians injured.
Several teenage schoolgirls and teachers were treated for tear gas inhalation at the scene and the school was closed after the incident, school officials told the agency.
Two Palestinians were later injured when Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets on stone-throwing demonstrators nearby, witnesses said.
The army said it was checking the report, AFP added.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian civilian was killed by an Israeli bullet in the stomach in the Khan Yunis region in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hafez Rushdi Khalil, 35, was killed as he was passing an Israeli army position and another Palestinian man with him was shot in the foot, medical sources told AFP.
Overnight, ten Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli troops and settlers, while the army said six mortar shells were fired at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip, said reports.
According to Haaretz, Palestinians fired several anti-tank grenades at the settlements of Kfar Darom and Ganei Tal in the Gaza Strip. The grenades fell in the vicinity of the settlements, said the paper, adding that there were no injuries.
The paper added that Palestinians fired mortar shells at the Gaza settlements of Nissanit, Kfar Darom and near the Erez industrial zone at the northern end of the Strip, and near Moshav Netiv Ha'asarah which is inside the 1967 Green Line border.
In one instance, an Israeli tank returned fire, injuring six Palestinians.
Palestinian gunmen reportedly fired on the Jewish enclave in the divided West Bank city of Hebron overnight Wednesday, and at an Israeli outpost at the isolated Gaza settlement of Netzarim.
PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL PLEDGES TO EASE BLOCKADE AT SECURITY MEETING
The Palestinians said Thursday that Israel had pledged to ease its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip at a top level security meeting which Israeli officials said was held in a "positive atmosphere," said AFP.
"There was some change (in the Israeli position)," Palestinian intelligence chief Amin al-Hindi said, adding that a further meeting would be held on Monday.
The meeting, held at the residence near Tel Aviv of US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, followed strong US pressure for the two sides to work to halt the violence.
"They (the Israelis) said they would take a number of gradual unilateral steps," Hindi told Voice of Palestine radio, including easing border restrictions, opening roads, increasing the number of Palestinians allowed to go to their jobs in Israel, and "attempting to lift the siege on towns in the West Bank."
"The ball is in their court now. We're waiting for these measures to be implemented on the ground in order," said Hindi, who attended the meeting along with Gaza Strip general security chief Abdel Razeq al-Majeida and West Bank preventive security chief Jibril Rjoub
"I can not give a precise account of the proceedings, but the results of this meeting will be announced on the ground," Israeli government spokesman Gideon Saar said.
"Israel put forward just one demand; an end to the violence," he stressed.
"As long as the Palestinians fail to put an end to the attacks against Israel emanating from Sector A (the Palestinian autonomous zone), Israel will be forced to do the job itself," said Saar, an apparent allusion to a major Israeli attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday.
The Israeli delegation at Wednesday's meeting included Avi Dichter, head of the internal security service Shin Beth.
The Palestinians said their side included Gaza Strip general security chief Abdel Razeq al-Majeida, al-Hindi and West Bank preventive security chief Jibril Rjoub, who traveled to the meeting in a US diplomatic car, according to Haaretz.
Last Wednesday, the first formal security meeting since Sharon took office a month previously was marred when Israeli troops fired on the convoy of Palestinian officials returning to Gaza.
A subsequent meeting planned for last Monday was called off amid lingering Palestinian anger over the incident.
US SAYS BOTH ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS UNDERMINING SECURITY TALKS
For the second time in as many days, the United States lashed out Wednesday at ongoing violence between the Palestinians and Israel, blaming both sides for undermining US efforts to restart security talks, said AFP.
Though a second round of bilateral security discussions with US participation began Wednesday, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said continuing clashes on the ground were unacceptable.
"Mortar attacks from one side and bulldozing of Palestinian homes by the other undermine the conduct of serious, successful discussions," Reeker told reporters, adding that provocative comments were also unhelpful.
"They need to back off violence, they need to back off this kind of rhetoric, to create a better climate for discussions to move forward," he said, repeating unusually blunt language that Washington used on Tuesday.
Reeker said the United States would do what it could to facilitate further security talks between the two sides.
Wednesday's meeting follows a sharp escalation in violence which saw Israeli tanks roll deep into Palestinian territory in a deadly overnight raid.
Israel aimed to blast the Palestinians back to the negotiating table with its six-hour tank bombardment of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying buildings thought to serve as bases for mortar attacks on Jewish settlements and area army posts, which have so far not killed anyone.
Reeker declined to single any one party out for criticism saying only: "We have consistently made clear that we oppose both incursions into and shootings from Area A."
JOINT EGYPTIAN-JORDANIAN PEACE PLAN URGES CONFIDENCE-BUILDING
A joint Egypt-Jordan plan aimed at quelling the deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict calls for a series of confidence building measures including a halt to Israel's settlement activities and a resumption of negotiations that "preserves" progress made during previous failed talks, according to AFP.
According to a copy of the draft proposal which first emerged earlier this month, Jordan and Egypt -- the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel -- are calling first for implementation of understandings reached at an October summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The plan, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, has already been rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is refusing to resume negotiations with the Palestinians "under fire."
In line with the Sharm understandings, the proposals call for the two sides to take steps to defuse the crisis and restore calm, for Israel to withdraw its forces to where they were before the outbreak of the Intifada, end its blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and transfer outstanding funds owed to the Palestinian Authority.
Egypt and Jordan say the implementation of the measures should be monitored by a high-level joint political and security committee.
The proposals also call for a series of "confidence building measures" including implementation of the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh agreement that called for further Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank and set down target dates -- all missed -- for interim and final accords.
The plan demands a "total and immediate freeze" on all Jewish settlement activities including those in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in 1967 along with its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the "protection of all Christian and Muslim holy places and sites."
On the negotiations, it says both parties should resume work on permanent status issues including the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders, settlements, security and water issues in line with UN Security Council resolutions.
Both parties should agree that they will conclude these negotiations within six months of the date of their resumption, it says.
"The negotiations between both parties must preserve and develop the progress that has been achieved during the period from November 1999 to January 2001," including the failed US-hosted summit at Camp David in July and a final round of negotiations in the Egyptian resort of Taba in January.
The proposal also call for the sponsors of the peace process -- the United States and Russia -- as well as the European Union, Egypt, Jordan and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan -- to monitor implementation of the plan, said AFP.
RADIO: SHARON REJECTS ABU ALA'S PEACE PLAN
Sources in the Prime Minister's office said Ariel Sharon said he completely rejected an end-to-violence and peace plan proposed by Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Haaretz said, Thursday, citing Israel Radio.
But the report added that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was said to be perusing the plan with Abu Ala with great interest.
According to Abu Ala's plan, both sides would have to end the violence and fully implement signed agreements.
Israel would have to lift the closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end its policy of assassinating Palestinian militants, freeze settlement expansion and free up tax revenues it owes the Palestinian Authority. All this would be part of an effort to renew negotiations between the two sides.
The paper said that Abu Ala's plan did not include a demand to renew peace talks from where they left off under Sharon's predecessor Ehud Barak.
Likud Knesset Member Moshe Arens rejected the proposal Thursday, saying that the Palestinians first had "to reach the conclusion that violence does not pay."
Arens, a former defense minister who spoke on Israel Radio, added that once Peres completed reading the document, he would no doubt reach the conclusion "that it is not so interesting."
Zahava Galon of the left-wing Meretz party countered Arens, suggesting that the government should take Abu Ala's initiative seriously, and that military might would not solve the conflict, Haaretz quoted her as saying.
"It's possible to conquer more homes and leave more people without a roof over their heads and to continue with the assassinations and then the Palestinian Authority will collapse," she said.
"The mantra that we will not talk under fire has to end. You have to talk in order to end the fire. And it's not possible to talk only about renewing security cooperation." - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
