West Bank, Gaza fighting as Sharon outlines peace plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon favours a long-term interim deal with the Palestinians that would give them a far smaller and weaker state than they demand, according to an interview published yesterday.

On a relatively quiet day in the Palestinians' seven-month uprising against Israeli ocupation, sporadic clashes erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in which at least 16 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were wounded.

The fighting flared while Palestinians lashed out at Israel for an alleged attempt to assassinate an activist of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank.
In the Old City of Jerusalem, turnout for traditional Good Friday processions, held under heavy Israeli security, was low compared with previous years. Cross-bearing pilgrims retraced the traditional route Jesus took to his crucifixion.

The procession ended without incident but shortly afterwards Palestinian youths briefly threw stones at Israeli security guards at a location that is sacred to both religions and frequently the scene of clashes after Muslim Friday prayers.

Three Israel troops were wounded near the West Bank village of al-Khader when a bomb exploded near their vehicle, an army spokeswoman said. Later, stone-throwing clashes broke out and four Palestinians were hurt by Israeli fire, hospital officials said. Witnesses said two separate gunbattles took place in Gaza near the Egyptian border at Rafah but there were no casualties.

About 2,000 Palestinians rallied in the West Bank city of Nablus after Friday prayers denouncing security talks held earlier in the week in an attempt to end the uprising.
Witnesses said minor stone-throwing against Israeli soldiers erupted near Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza. Palestinian hospital sources said seven people were wounded when Israeli troops opened fire to break up the trouble.

In Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, about 40 masked men, shrouded in white sheets - a symbol of martyrdom to Palestinians - renewed their vows to the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group that has carried out bombings in Israel.

"Every Zionist monkey is number one on our wanted list," said a leader of the group as the contingent of self-declared suicide-bombers-in-waiting kissed a Koran and submachinegun at a rally attended by hundreds of Islamic Jihad supporters.

Five Palestinians were also hurt in stone-throwing clashes near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. At least 376 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have been killed in the violence that erupted last September after peace talks deadlocked.

Making public his idea for peace with the Palestinians, Sharon told the Maariv newspaper he could accept a Palestinian state on some 42 per cent of the West Bank. With another Israeli withdrawal in the West Bank, such as the one promised in a 1998 interim peace accord, "it's possible to reach 42 percent, plus or minus", he told the newspaper.

That is only a little bit more than the West Bank land in which Palestinians already have full or partial control under interim peace deals going back seven years. As before, Sharon conditioned any peace talks on an end to violence that has raged for nearly seven months in a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

In the newspaper interview, Sharon said a Palestinian state would have to be demilitarised and its police forces armed only to maintain order, while Israel would for years oversee the external borders and be free to fly over the territory.

He has said he can envisage only a long-term agreement of non-belligerency with the Palestinians, not a final peace deal. Palestinians have ruled out creating a state on anything less than all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Palestinians, meanwhile, lashed out at Israel over the alleged attempt to blow up Fatah activist Nasser Abu Hmeid in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.
The alleged incident occurred less than 24 hours after U.S.-arranged Israeli-Palestinian talks to reduce the violence.

Palestinian officials said two "collaborators" with Israel had delivered a booby-trapped car to Abu Hmeid, but he suspected foul play and called in security forces who took the vehicle to a field where it exploded, causing no casualties. Cabinet minister Nabil Amr called sending a booby-trapped car into a residential area a "serious escalation".

Asked to comment, the Israeli army said: "We are unaware of any such explosion." Palestinian television showed the charred remains of what it said was Abu Hmeid's car. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of assassinating more than 20 activists since the uprising began.