The Israeli-Palestinian conflict slid further towards all-out war Friday, with tit-for-tat actions involving helicopter gunships and mortars, while a hardline Israeli minister urged the Jewish state to strike "day and night.”
As more clashes between Palestinian stonethrowers and Israeli soldiers left at least six Palestinian injured after Friday prayers around the West Bank.
Earlier, four mortar bombs fell on the Netzarim Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip early Friday, causing no injuries or damage but provoking Israeli tank fire in retaliation, an Israeli military source said.
The Islamic Jihad movement, which had vowed revenge for Israel’s assassination of its top military leader, said in a statement faxed to Albawaba.com that it carried out a mortar attack inside Israel the same day.
Reports confirmed that a kibbutz in Israel itself was hit by mortar bombs.
AFP added that a Palestinian national security position was hit by two shells and two Palestinian homes in southern Gaza City were damaged in the bombardment, but no one was hurt.
The Israeli army fired an assortment of around 20 tank shells and mortar bombs, a Palestinian source told the agency.
The fighting came hours after Israeli helicopter gunships launched overnight raids on Palestinian police headquarters in the Gaza Strip following another Palestinian mortar attack Thursday.
Six people, including two police officers, were injured in the air raids, the third in eight days, according to General Saeb al-Ajiz, commander of Palestinian national security in the northern Gaza Strip.
"This is fresh aggression against the headquarters of the Palestinian national authority and against the Palestinian people," he told AFP.
A clash protesting the killing broke out after weekly Friday prayers in the West Bank town of Bethlehem between hundreds of Palestinians throwing stones at an Israeli checkpoint, leaving at least five injured.
Clashes were also reported in Hebron, where person one was injured, and the village of al-Khader near Bethlehem, witnesses told AFP.
The funeral of Jihad militant Iyyad Hardan, killed when the public telephone he was speaking at exploded, got underway Friday with around 15,000 people taking to the streets, some vowing revenge for his death.
Israel launched its overnight strikes despite a rare double-barreled blast of criticism from Washington, condemning plans for new settlements in the Palestinian territories and protesting an incident in which Israeli soldiers fired on a convoy of Palestinian officials.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the shooting, which occurred as the officials were returning to Gaza after US-facilitated security talks with Israeli officials, "a very serious incident.”
On hearing of it, Secretary of State Colin Powell immediately telephoned both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to urge restraint, Boucher told reporters.
"We wanted to ensure that escalation would not ensue," Boucher said, adding that Washington understood Sharon and Arafat had also spoken directly to each other after the incident.
Sharon told Powell the shooting had not been deliberate and that he would be conducting an investigation, Boucher said.
Israel admitted firing on the convoy late Wednesday just after it entered the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing with Israel, but said the Palestinians fired first.
Boucher then spelled out in terse and blunt detail what the United States expected from Israel, particularly after Washington had worked hard to arrange the security talks, the first since Sharon took office a month ago.
"Continuing settlement activity by Israel does risk further inflaming an already volatile situation in the region," he added. "This is provocative and we have consistently encouraged both sides to refrain from provocative acts."
The Israeli housing ministry Thursday published tenders for 708 homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank, drawing an immediate outcry from Palestinians and left-wing Israelis.
But Israel's Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau, a hardliner in Sharon's right-wing Likud party, said Friday, "We must step up our operations, not restrict ourselves to attacks every three days but strike day and night."
Palestinian minister Saeb Erakat told reporters the remarks revealed the "true face" of Sharon's government and said the world must see that Israel's occupation of Palestinian land is "the highest form of terrorism."
Landau said Israel should target "whoever in the Palestinian Authority takes part in terrorist actions or prepares them," adding, "They must know they will not enjoy impunity."
Israeli police meanwhile barred Palestinian Muslims on Friday from holding annual festivities at a site near the ancient city of Jericho where Moses is believed to be buried, drawing Palestinian complaints that Israel is flouting religious freedoms.
PALESTINIANS WARN AGAINST DEFILING AQSA
Meanwhile, Haaretz reported Friday that the Palestinian Authority has said that any desecration of the Aqsa Mosque site will cause dire consequences.
The Palestinian statement came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s announcement that he would support allowing Israelis to visit to the holy site. The PA announcement from Gaza stated that considering the possibility of visiting the mosque compound is like playing with fire.
Sharon instructed security officials Thursday to find the best way to enable Jewish visits to the “Temple Mount.”
Sharon's visit to the site in September of last year was the reason behind the outbreak of the Intifada of the past six months.
In a related story, the Israeli Supreme Court denied a petition Thursday afternoon by the extremist religious Temple Mount Faithful who requested police permission to pray on the Aqsa during the Passover holiday. The judges accepted the position of the police that to allow prayers on the site would likely lead to riots in Jerusalem.
FRANCE CONDEMNS ISRAELI POLICIES, GERMANY DONATES 44 MILLION EUROS TO PALESTINIANS
France on Friday condemned Israel's policy in the Palestinian territories saying it was heading in the wrong direction.
"There is a dangerous tendency which we see at work in various forms, whether it's the new settlements announced in the Palestinian territories, or more extra-judicial murders, or the military strikes in the Gaza Strip," foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said, quoted by AFP.
"The logic of force will lead nowhere and Israel is heading down the wrong path," he said, calling for negotiations to end the conflict. "This escalation is only going to lead to more violence, suffering and destruction."
"Every effort must be made to begin a real dialogue," he added.
Rivasseau's comments echoed similar criticism against Israel by the United States over plans for new settlements in the Palestinian territories and over a Thursday incident in which Israeli soldiers opened fire on a convoy of Palestinian.
In a related development, Germany has decided to donate 44 million euros to the Palestinians, reported Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA – Albawaba.com
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