Shades of Lebanon in costly war of attrition

JERUSALEM - Israel has plunged deeper into a Lebanon-style war of attrition with the Palestinians, a conflict where a single rifle shot can make even an Israeli defence chief seem powerless.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is also defence minister, was winding up what was to have been a morale-boosting visit to Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip yesterday when a Palestinian sniper just down the road shot a Jewish settler in the head.

The 18-year-old died later in hospital, joining four Palestinians shot in clashes earlier in the day as the latest fatalities in a vicious cycle of violence in which 251 people, mainly Palestinians, have been killed.

The settler's death, a day after Israeli missiles hit Palestinian security targets in Gaza City in retaliation for a bus bombing that killed two settlers, brought renewed calls from Israeli right-wingers for stronger military action.

But cabinet minister Haim Ramon said the Government realised that a tougher Army response alone could not end the violence.

It was, he said, "a diplomatic dialogue" leading to an interim peace deal in 1993 that ended the last Palestinian uprising, which lasted six years.

Egypt's announcement late on Tuesday that it was recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv in response to what it called Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, appeared to sideline a main mediator in Middle East peace efforts.

The United States urged Egypt to stay engaged with Israel, saying its help was needed to restore calm after eight weeks of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

"I understand that emotions are running very high in the region," White House spokesman Jake Siewert told reporters after US Defence Secretary William Cohen arrived in Cairo on an extensive Middle East tour.

"Engagement is needed to help cool the situation and serve as a bridge between Israelis and Palestinians," Siewert said.

As gunfire again echoed into the night in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, talk in Israel turned to the conflict's similarity to the constant guerrilla attacks Israeli soldiers faced in southern Lebanon before ending a 22-year occupation in May.

"All the things that characterised Lebanon have now reached the Gaza Strip," Israeli Army Radio said.

Israeli troops travel the ambush-prone roads of the Gaza Strip in armoured transports dubbed "safari trucks."

The radio said some of the soldiers now in Gaza had served in Lebanon, where they had been under daily attack by Hizbollah guerrillas fighting to end the Israeli occupation.

Civilian Mercedes cars - which Israeli officers and security men used in southern Lebanon to blend in with local traffic - also have made their appearance in Gaza, the radio added.

As in Lebanon, Israeli bulldozers quickly moved in and felled trees believed to have provided cover for the sniper who shot the settler yesterday.

The Army said 14 members of the Israeli security forces and 15 Israeli civilians have been killed since the unrest began on September 28.

Visiting the Army base down the road, Barak said he regretted Egypt's move to bring home Ambassador Mohammed Bassiouny - who has been in Israel for two decades - but would "not exaggerate the immediate consequences."

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, in 1979.

- REUTERS

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