Enemies vent anger over deaths in the West Bank

JERUSALEM - Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier in the West Bank a day after Israel's capture of members of a Palestinian security unit.

The 23-year-old Israeli reservist was shot in the head during a firefight near a Jewish settlement outside the Palestinian city of Nablus yesterday.

"It is clear that things are escalating," said Israeli cabinet minister Matan Vilnai.

In the volatile West Bank city of Hebron, Jewish settlers and supporters called for revenge at the burial of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pas, the little girl killed by Palestinian gunfire last week.

Security was tight as about 1000 mourners carried the girl, wrapped in a piece of blue velvet bearing an embroidered Star of David, to a cemetery where gravestones date back more than 400 years.

At least 367 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 70 other Israelis have died since the Palestinian uprising began seven months ago.

"The Government of Israel has a duty to avenge her blood and the blood of every one of us and her brothers whose blood was shed by evildoers," said Rabbi Dov Lior at the funeral.

The burial was likely to exacerbate tensions in the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinians faced off with troops in defiance of warnings by Israel of a new gloves-off policy towards the uprising.

Settlers had said they would not bury Pas until Israeli forces seized the Palestinian-populated hill where the shot originated. But they went ahead with the funeral to give the family the usual seven-day Jewish mourning period before the Passover holiday begins.

In Gaza, Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan condemned Israel's capture of five members of the Force-17 Palestinian security unit and one civilian as a "new escalation" of the conflict.

He appealed for the return of the captives, adding that Israel had "to be responsible for the outcome of any Palestinian reaction."

Palestinians said the six were taken by Israeli troops from Jaljilya, a self-ruled West Bank village.



Far-right Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi urged the Government to destroy the home of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, saying the action would force him to reconsider whether to go on fighting Israel.

But Palestinians, mourning the death of an 11-year-old boy yesterday, vowed to continue the uprising.

Lo'ai Tamimi, died after being shot by an Israeli Army sniper during a stone-throwing clash with Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

At Tamimi's funeral, a leader of Arafat's Fatah faction said: "The Palestinian policy is very clear - to continue the Intifada, to continue the resistance."

Israel denied responsibility for the killing, saying that its soldiers returned live fire only when fired upon and never aimed at unarmed children.

- REUTERS

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