Marches test truce moves in Middle East

JERUSALEM - Palestinians were to mark the first anniversary of their uprising against Israeli occupation late last night (NZ time) with marches that could test the two sides' commitment to turning a shaky truce into a lasting ceasefire.

Tensions were high after five Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday, three in a battle with Israeli troops that undermined peace efforts aimed to boost United States attempts to forge a global anti-terror alliance.

A three-minute silence was planned in the Gaza Strip and West Bank to demonstrate Palestinian anger at the occupation.

Palestinians hope people across the Arab world will join the silence in solidarity with the uprising, in which at least 593 Palestinians and 169 Israelis have been killed.

Israeli police will be out in force and will allow only men over 40 to attend prayers in the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres agreed on Thursday to make a new effort to implement a truce plan. Israeli-Palestinian security talks were set to resume yesterday as a result of their meeting.

But the violence undermined those efforts and reinforced doubts that the two sides would soon stop fighting.

Three Palestinians were killed and 27 were wounded in fighting in Rafah refugee camp, close to the southern border with Egypt, after Israel sent tanks and a bulldozer to demolish houses, Palestinian officials said.

Troops later shot dead a 15-year-old schoolboy as he stood in a tense area of Rafah near an Army post, and killed a 30-year-old mentally disturbed man who strayed too close to a Jewish settlement in central Gaza, hospital sources said.

The United States increased its pressure on both sides after the latest violence. It asked Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes, end incursions into Palestinian territory and refrain from provocative acts that escalate tension.

It urged the Palestinian Authority to pre-empt violence and arrest those responsible for planning and carrying out violence.

"We think it's essential that Israelis and Palestinians both take the opportunity to act in a manner that helps to make progress and avoid actions that can only make forward movement more difficult," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Washington wants calm so it can persuade Muslim states to cooperate in its campaign against militant Islamist Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States which left more than 7000 dead or missing.

The death toll in the Arab-Israeli conflict has continued to rise, even though violence has dropped overall in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since Arafat told his forces to stop shooting on September 18 and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the Army to halt all attacks.

- REUTERS

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