Palestinians announce soldiers will enter the fight

RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority has warned its troops will intervene in any clash with Palestinians. Until now, militia forces and snipers have used their weapons while Arafat held the military in reserve.

Both sides said they expect an escalation in violence.

PA Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdul Rahman said the Israeli air attack on Monday night ended what he termed were efforts to end the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Abdul Rahman said the PA now reserves the right to defend itself against any Israeli aggression.

"The Palestinian Authority, its police and all its security services have the right to defend our land and our people by all means including guns," Abdul Rahman said. "Our policemen will now use their guns in self-defense in areas under our full sovereignty. They have the right to respond."

Hours later, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed an Israeli teenager in a convoy of cars leaving the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces destroyed a nearby house and orchards where the sniper took cover.

The shooting continued overnight Wednesday throughout the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Military sources said Israeli buses were ambushed north of Ramallah.

Both Israeli and PA security sources said they expect the violence to escalate.

Palestinian sources said six Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israel over the last 24 hours. Four of them were killed in clashes in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.

PA officials have declared the peace process with Israel dead. They said PA Chairman Yasser Arafat now insists that renewed talks no longer be limited to U.S. sponsorship.

"At the moment the process is clinically dead, and if God doesn't send a miracle to save it from death, it will die," Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Ahmed Qurei said. "A peace process in which the United States plays the role of the main sponsor cannot succeed. Not once has the United States forced Israel to carry out even one agreement. Israel and the United States are two sides of the same coin as far as the peace process is concerned."

But PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan, regarded as one of the closest aides to Arafat, said peace talks with Israel are still possible. But he said only Israel can make this happen.

"President Arafat is still committed to the peace process," Dahlan said. "He has still a tiny, a very tiny, hope in the peace process. We hope that Israel does not kill this hope of President Yasser Arafat because the results will be destructive for both the Palestinian and the Israeli people."