Israel digs in for more clashes

Barak predicts that clashes with Palestinian protesters will continue

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said there is no miracle cure which will end the violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, following one of the bloodiest days since violence erupted seven weeks ago.

On Wednesday - the 12th anniversary of a symbolic declaration of Palestinian independence - eight Palestinian protesters were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during fierce clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.

If we thought that 2000 dead, instead of 200, would end this whole issue, then we would use much more force

Israeli PM Ehud Barak

Overnight, Israeli combat helicopters launched "pre-emptive" rocket strikes on five different Palestinian locations - apparently in retaliation for Monday's killing of four Israelis.

"We are in for a long battle that will really decide our future in this country and it is a complex battle," Mr Barak told Israeli radio.

He went on to defend his military policy, saying that a harsher response to the unrest would not end the bloodshed, which has so far claimed about 230 lives - the vast majority of them Palestinian.

More than 200 funerals have taken place

As he made his remarks, the United States was renewing efforts to broker a ceasefire.

US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for around two hours, and said he still hoped peace negotiations could be resumed before President Clinton left office in January.

Mr Barak, who met Mr Ross on Wednesday, made clear once again that there would be no peace talks with Mr Arafat until the violence stopped.

Rocket attacks

Israel - itself accused of employing excessive force - alleges that the Palestinian leadership is responsible for fomenting the unrest. Mr Arafat denies this.

In a pre-dawn operation on Thursday, Israeli combat helicopters launched extensive attacks on suspected bases of Mr Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank.

Rockets were fired at five different targets, including what the army says was a Palestinian munitions dump near Jericho.

In Beit Jala, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Israeli helicopters opened fire with their machine guns and launched rockets in response to what they say was Palestinian shooting towards the Jewish settlement of Gilo.

The Israeli attack killed a German doctor, Harry Fischer, and left around 10 Palestinians injured.

The Israeli army says it believes the buildings it targeted were uninhabited during the night.

However, no warnings were given by the military prior to the attacks - a departure from normal policy - and the BBC's Hilary Andersson in Jerusalem says this marks a clear change in Israeli tactics.

New shooting

She says Israel may have decided to continue its "policy of restraint" in the occupied territories, but that is not the way its actions appear.

Unrest continued on Thursday, when Israeli soldiers shot and wounded six Palestinian at a funeral in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, and three others at the Karni crossing point.

Wednesday's violence cast a shadow over the funeral of one of Israel's leading peace campaigners, the late Leah Rabin, widow of the assassinated Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who was buried in Jerusalem.

In what appeared to be a gesture to the Israeli people, Mr Arafat prepared a videotaped eulogy to Mrs Rabin, which was broadcast on Israeli, but not Palestinian, television.