2 Killed, Dozens Injured in Palestinian-Israeli Clashes in West BankTwo Palestinians were killed and dozens injured Friday in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank, a Palestinian source said in Gaza.One Palestinian youngster was killed in the West Bank town of Nablus which has witnessed severe confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers since early morning. In central Gaza, the number of injured Palestinians in clashes with Israeli soldiers guarding the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, which witnessed the bloodiest conflicts recently in the Palestinian territories, has risen to 12. About a thousand Palestinians gathered around the settlement, shouting anti-Israel slogans and hurling stones at the Israeli troops who responded with firing rubber-coated and live bullets. There was no exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian police as the latter was not at the scene. The Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian police reached a verbal agreement on Thursday on a ceasefire and the Israeli pullback of tanks from the clash areas. During the past seven-day clashes, about 70 persons, mostly Palestinians, were killed and nearly 2,000 others injured. The militant Palestinian Hamas group had declared Friday as a "Day of Rage" to mark the death of Palestinians in clashes with Israeli forces recently. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has ordered a closure barring Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza from entering Israel on Friday. The closure order went effective at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) Friday and will last till the end of the two-day Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur on Monday. Israel deployed heavy security forces in certain possible flashpoints, particularly in Jerusalem, after Hamas warned in a statement on Thursday that "Friday will be a day of distinct escalation and clashes." West Bank Preventive Security Service chief Jibril Rajoub also urged Israel to refrain from shooting at Palestinian demonstrators. Barak on Thursday vowed again to make an all-out effort to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians in the coming weeks and called on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to take measures to stop the violence on the Palestinian side. |
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