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JERUSALEM
(AP) - Palestinian rock-throwers clashed Friday with Israeli
troops across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and two Palestinians
were killed by Israeli fire. In separate marches, thousands
of Islamic militants clamored for more suicide attacks in
Israel, chanting ``We want a big bomb.''
The
renewed violence came after a few days of relative calm
and was expected to hamper President Clinton's efforts to
revive peace talks.
Israel
has said it will not resume negotiations unless quiet is
restored. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction
has said it will keep encouraging confrontations as a way
of extracting concessions from Israel in the negotiations.
Palestinian
activists declared Friday a ``day of rage,'' and asked Palestinian
worshippers to march from mosques to Israeli checkpoints
after noon prayers, the highlight of the Muslim religious
week.
Across
the West Bank, Israeli troops fired live rounds and rubber-coated
steel pellets at Palestinian rock-throwers. Two Palestinians
were killed by Israeli fire in the towns of Tulkarem and
Qalqiliya, including a 15-year-old. Twenty-five other Palestinians
were injured, four of them seriously, doctors said.
The
deaths bring to 131 the number of people killed - most of
them Palestinians - in 30 days of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
More than 5,000 Palestinians have been injured, according
to Palestinian hospital officials.
At
a traffic circle north of the West Bank town of Ramallah,
acrid smoke from a car burned by the crowd rose into the
air as Israeli troops took aim at rock-throwers from behind
a line of jeeps.
In
the West Bank town of Nablus, about 2,000 supporters of
the Islamic militant group Hamas marched through town chanting
``We want a big bomb.''
``The
only way to respond to Israeli attacks is through military
operations,'' said Salah Darwazeh, a Hamas leader in Nablus,
referring to suicide bombings carried out in recent years
by the Hamas military wing, Izzedine al Qassam.
In
the Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, more than 10,000 Hamas
supporters attended a rally led by several dozen masked
men wearing white T-shirts reading ``The martyrs of al Qassam.''
One of the men wore a vest with pockets filled with what
was meant to resemble bombs and sticks of explosives.
Israel
has been on high alert for new suicide attacks since several
dozen Islamic militants were released from Palestinian jails
two weeks ago. On Thursday, a 24-year-old kindergarten janitor
rode his bicycle to an Israeli army post in Gaza and detonated
explosives strapped to his back, killing himself and injuring
a soldier.
In
response, Israeli forces destroyed a house overlooking the
base and uprooted trees that gave cover to Palestinian attackers.
Israeli
security officials warned of an escalation of the conflict.
``The operators are out there, at large,'' said army spokesman
Col. Raanan Gissin.
In
Jerusalem, Israel barred Palestinian men under 35 from praying
at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound on Jerusalem's Haram as-Sharif,
the Noble Sanctuary, a hill known to Jews as the Temple
Mount and holy to both religions. Police said they imposed
the restrictions to prevent possible clashes after prayers.
Worshippers
dispersed quietly after planting a Palestinian flag on one
of the two mosques in the compound. A visit to the site
by Israel's hawkish opposition leader Ariel Sharon triggered
the Israeli-Palestinian fighting Sept. 28. The Temple Mount
is the site of the biblical Jewish Temple, the holiest shrine
of Judaism.
In
the Jewish West Bank settlement of Efrat, the main synagogue
was vandalized overnight, and settlers said they suspected
Palestinian intruders. The synagogue was flooded - the vandals
had turned on water hoses - and swastikas were spray-painted
on the walls along with slogans in Arabic and Hebrew.
Efrat
Mayor Eitan Golan said security at the settlement, located
between Jerusalem and Hebron, must be improved. ``Today
they spray paint. Tomorrow they could spray gunfire,'' he
said.
Clinton,
meanwhile, called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak late
Thursday to discuss the situation, the White House said.
Clinton has invited Barak and Arafat to separate talks in
Washington.
Barak
and Sharon worked on forging a broad coalition that could
salvage Barak's minority government. Barak needs such a
coalition to stay in power, while Sharon is seeking a prime
political role and a say in security affairs.
Sharon
raised harsh conditions, saying his party will never accept
surrendering control over any area of Jerusalem, including
the Temple Mount, or giving the West Bank's strategic Jordan
Valley to the Palestinians. Barak turned down Sharon's conditions.
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