Palestinians continue shooting attacks despite ceasefire

RAMALLAH — Palestinian gunmen continued their attacks on Israeli targets despite a ceasefire agreed upon by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Shooting attacks on Israeli positions were reported throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight Sunday. These included attacks near Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah.

The shootings followed earlier clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians in Gaza, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. Palestinian sources said five Palestinians were killed and 200 injured in the clashes, sparked during funerals of those who died in violence last week. So far, 128 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in the mini-war with Israel.

Israeli military sources acknowledge that commanders are slowly lifting what they term as their restraint in responding to Palestinian attacks. On Friday, an Israeli Cobra attack helicopter fired a missile toward the Bethlehem-area town of Bet Sahour. An Israeli tank fired toward Bet Jallah, another town in the area, after a nearby Jerusalem neighborhood came under Palestinian fire.

"The response has been slightly more harsh," Col. Marcel Aviv, head of Israeli forces in the Bethlehem area, said. "If the other side doesn't understand the message, then the situation could get worse. Any [Palestinian] home from which there is fire will disappear. Any car from where there is fire will be destroyed."

For their part, Palestinian leaders said they will continue fighting until a state is declared next month. But the leaders said the Palestinians are still prepared to negotiate with Israel even as they wage attacks. "The main purpose of this intifada [uprising] is to implement international resolutions and to end the occupation," Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said. "Even if I call [for a ceasefire], they will not listen.

People are listening to me because I am with the intifada and with them." PA sources said a key aim of Arafat is to prevent the Islamic opposition from gaining control of the Palestinian street. They said Arafat's security chiefs have limited the movement of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists while Fatah leaders loyal to Arafat maintain control of the violence.

On Friday, PA police banned a Hamas rally in Gaza in the Jabalya refugee camp. Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin was scheduled to attend the rally in which a Hamas invitation promised a "number of surprises." The invitation did not specify.