Palestinians plan another "day of rage"

JERUSALEM - Palestinians are planning a second straight "day of rage" and funerals for men they regard as martyrs after the strongest spasm of Israeli- Palestinian violence in weeks.

Israel blockaded all West Bank cities after seven Palestinians and three Israelis were killed yesterday on the anniversary of the start of the previous Palestinian uprising, which began in 1987 and ended in 1993.

The volatile combination of another day of rage declared by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and Islamic groups, along with funerals for many of Friday's dead, threatened to ignite more violence after a lull earlier in the week.

The Palestinian cabinet, at its weekly meeting, said Israel aimed to pursue a military solution which threatened not only the Palestinian people but also regional and international stability.

"By continuing this aggressive war and pursuing the military option, the Israeli government is under the illusion that it will achieve security, stability and peace," the cabinet said.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak told a group of families of Israelis killed in Middle East violence that Israel would stand firm against what he called Palestinian terrorism.

"We have witnessed and experienced tough moments. We are ready for what it takes until we see the light at the end of the tunnel and we see peace coming," he said.

The death toll has reached 308 after 10 weeks of violent confrontation, according to an unofficial Reuters tally. Most of the dead were Palestinians.

Thirty-eight Israeli soldiers and civilians have also been killed, as well as 13 Israeli Arabs.

Israeli tank fire on Friday killed five Palestinians, including at least three police, near the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian officials said. Israeli forces killed a Palestinian near Bethlehem and another in Arab East Jerusalem.

Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank killed two Jewish settlers in a roadside ambush near Hebron and a third Israeli in an attack against a bus outside Jericho.

In the clashes in East Jerusalem, which erupted after Friday Muslim prayers, Palestinian youths dipped their hands in the blood of a teenager shot dead on the Via Dolorosa, the route Christian tradition says Jesus took to his crucifixion.

The youngsters then held their hands aloft in a show of defiance and made handprints on the stone walls lining the alley.

Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, commenting on the killing of the five Palestinians in Jenin, said it was clear the Israeli army was "going berserk".

About 15,000 Palestinians held a protest march in Jenin. Palestinian officials said Israeli tanks had deliberately targeted a police position. The army said the tanks had fired at Palestinian gunmen who entered an Israeli-controlled area.

"Give us guns and we will confront Israeli tanks," the demonstrators chanted as they marched with banners and flags.

The violence had eased slightly in recent days, raising hope that it might be on the wane before next week's visit by a fact-finding committee investigating the bloodshed.

Palestinians and Israelis have pledged to cooperate with the committee led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who mediated peace efforts in Northern Ireland.

At the United Nations, Britain, France and the United States scrambled on Friday to rework a compromise proposal on sending U.N. observers to help calm Middle East violence after both Israelis and Palestinians rejected it.

If the divided 15-member Security Council fails to find an acceptable formula, Palestinians may push for a vote on a draft resolution that calls for a 2,000-member unarmed military protection force in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

So far Israel and the United States, its main ally, oppose the Palestinian as well as the British-French compromise draft.

On Thursday, Britain and France presented an alternative text that recommended an unspecified number of military and police observers but would leave it up to Secretary- General Kofi Annan to work out details with Israel and the Palestinians.

- REUTERS

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