Palestinians killed in new clashes

Anger shows no sign of abating on either side

Eight Palestinians protesters have been shot dead during confrontations with Israeli soldiers on the day Palestinians treat as their symbolic independence anniversary.

As UN human rights officials expressed further concern about Israel's "excessive use of force", Israeli officials announced the dropping of their "policy of restraint" to counter a new, more violent Palestinian strategy.

No-one should fool themselves that they will shed the blood of Jews and we will sit quietly

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement meanwhile called for an escalation of its campaign to expel Jewish armed settlers and Israeli soldiers from the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak convened a security cabinet meeting to discuss possible military responses after the deaths of four Israelis in two separate ambushes earlier in the week.

These developments came on the day Israel's peace camp paid its last respects to one of its leading lights, the late Leah Rabin, widow of the assassinated Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was buried in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians were killed in clashes in the West Bank - near Hebron, Jericho, Qalqilya and Tulkarem - and at the Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Three Palestinians were reported to have wounded in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, late on Wednesday night, as the Israeli army shelled a house in response to shots fired at the nearby Jewish settlement of Gilo.

The Palestinian death toll was one of the highest in a single day since the start of their uprising against the Israeli occupation and its perceived intransigence in peace negotiations.

The latest casualties bring the number of dead to more than 230 since the violence began in September, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

Clinton's regrets

If it [peace] doesn't happen, I'll be profoundly disappointed

Bill Clinton

US President Bill Clinton - who oversaw the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace deal between Mr Rabin and Mr Arafat - has said his biggest regret as he prepares to leave office may be his failure to reconcile the two sides.

"If it doesn't happen, I'll be profoundly disappointed", he told the Associated Press news agency, "but I'll never regret a minute I spent on it, because I think it's very important for the future."

Mr Clinton has met both Mr Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak over the past few days to try to end seven weeks of bloodshed.

Leaflets distributed at the Jerusalem funeral of a Jewish woman killed by Palestinian gunmen said: "The Oslo accords are dead. The Arabs want war."

Arrests

Israeli cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he was in no doubt that the situation on the ground had "significantly worsened" in recent days.

Today marks the beginning of the process of expelling armed settlers and Israeli soldiers from occupied land

Marwan Barghouthi

"I cannot imagine that the cabinet today will continue with the policy of restraint," he said.

"No-one should fool themselves that they will shed the blood of Jews and we will sit quietly."

He also said Israeli soldiers had arrested 15 members of Fatah's Tanzim militia suspected of shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

A mother grieves for her 13-year-old son

A senior Fatah official said on Wednesday that the Palestinians had launched a long-term struggle that would escalate on Wednesday, their symbolic 12th independence anniversary.

"Today marks the beginning of the process of expelling armed settlers and Israeli soldiers from occupied land in the West Bank and Gaza," said Marwan Barghouthi a Fatah leader in the West Bank.

Robinson critical

The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, says she has been shocked, dismayed and disturbed by her fact-finding visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"I am very concerned about the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories," Mrs Robinson said as she arrived in Jordan in a statement broadcast on state television.

She said she d been made very aware of the strong need for international protection, which the Palestinians want in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and added that she was "very concerned about excessive use of force".

She embarked on her trip after the UN Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution condemning Israel over the violence and asked her to examine human rights violations.