Question mark over Clinton peace plan

Question mark over Clinton peace plan
Press Trust of India

Jerusalem, Jan 1: Casting doubts over the US President Bill Clinton's last-ditch peace efforts in Middle East, the Palestinians and Israelis exchanged fire on new years day in the West Bank and Gaza Strip leaving four Palestinians including a 10-year-old boy dead.

The firing from both sides started last night and continues till today amid fears of revenge attacks following separate killings of an extremist Jewish leader, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, and a senior official of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organisation, Thabet Thabet.

Amid escalated tension, Prime Miniser Ehud Barak called on agitated settlers to maintain restraint and allow the army to hunt down the culprits who shot and killed Kahane and his wife Talia and wounded five of the couple's six children yesterday.

While Palestinian sources alleged that an Israeli undercover squad was responsible for Thabet's murder, Israeli army said the matter was being investigated.

Israeli army said its troops came under Palestinian fire in a dozen locations in the West Bank and Gaza last night and Israel radio said exchanges of fire stretched upto early hours of today.

A 10-year-old Palestinian boy died of wounds he suffered in crossfire in the West Bank town of Hebron and a Palestinian youth died after being shot in the head when Jewish settlers fired on a crowd in his West Bank village, witnesses said.

Elsewhere, two Palestinian policemen were killed last night in the outskirts of the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem.

Meanwhile, cries of revenge echoed through the streets of Jerusalem last night as violence marked the funeral of Kahane. Thousands of demonstrators, many of them right-wing settlers, while participating in funeral chanted "Death to Arabs".

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian demonstrators called for revenge attacks on Israeli soldiers and Jews living in settlements following Thabet's death.

The two high-profile killings have come at a crucial time in the peace process and a day after Fatah called for an intensification of the three-month old uprising against Israel, which has so far claimed nearly 350 lives, most of them Palestinians.

Prominent Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti alleged that Barak's policies were responsible for Thabet's killing. "Barak has opened the gates of Hell for himself," he said.

Thabet's death is seen as prompting Fatah leaders to join the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Hamas in calling for mass demonstrations against US proposals aimed at forging an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

As both sides appeared bracing up for possible incidents of retaliatory violence, Barak told Israel radio that the killing of the Jewish couple was a "grave attack."

While the killings have fuelled anger on both side has accepted the plan in Principle but the Palestinians have said they are waiting for clarification from Clinton on a number of points before taking any decision.