Eight Palestinians were killed yesterday and dozens wounded, two of them critically, in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, bringing to almost 200 the number of Palestinians killed in seven weeks of fighting
A senior Israeli cabinet minister said that the government was reassessing what he called its "policy of restraint", especially in response to growing shooting attacks by Palestinian militia gunmen. Late last night, gun battles fanned out across the occupied territories and Israeli helicopter gunships hit Palestinian targets in the West Bank.
"No one should delude themselves that they will shed the blood of Jews and we will just sit quietly by," said Communications Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who was acting prime minister when four Israelis were gunned down on Monday in the West Bank and Gaza by Palestinian militiamen.
But after a meeting of the Security Cabinet, an aide close to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who returned on Tuesday from a trip to the US, said the government had not changed its policy. Mr Gilad Sher, the head of Mr Barak's bureau, said that if Mr Arafat brought about a "drastic decline in violence," then Israel would consider returning to the negotiating table.
However, on what was one of the bloodiest days of the seven-week-old conflict - a day in which Palestinians marked their November 15th, 1988 symbolic declaration of independence - a renewal of peace talks seemed more distant than ever. The Palestinians reported that two protesters were killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip and another six in the West Bank. Another Palestinian died yesterday of wounds sustained earlier.
Last night, Israeli attack helicopters fired missiles at offices belonging to Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah party in Hebron, Tulkarem and the village of Salfit in the West Bank. Israel has charged that Fatah activists are spearheading the shooting attacks on its soldiers and on Jewish settlers. Israeli military sources said helicopters also hit a Palestinian arsenal in Jericho. Fire-fights also spread out across Gaza and the West Bank last night. Some of the fiercest battles took place on the outskirts of Jerusalem where Palestinian gunmen resumed firing yesterday afternoon from the neighbourhood of Beit Jalla at the Jewish neighbourhood of Gilo, which is situated in a disputed part of Jerusalem.
The Israeli army stepped up its firing, using helicopter gunships to launch missiles at the sources of Palestinian gunfire in Beit Jalla.
On Tuesday night, Israeli undercover units operating in the West Bank, tracked down and arrested 15 members of the Tanzim militia, which is associated with Mr Arafat's Fatah party. In total, 25 Israelis have been killed since fighting erupted on September 28th. Tanzim leaders insisted the arrests would not end their struggle. Elsewhere, Mr Yitzhak Rabin's wife, Leah, an outspoken supporter of peace, was laid to rest yesterday alongside her slain husband at the Mt Herzl Jerusalem cemetery.
In the morning, thousands of Israelis came to pay their last respects to Mrs Rabin, whose coffin lay in state in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, where her husband was murdered.
In a videotaped condolence message released by Mr Arafat, who made the peace breakthrough with Mr Rabin in 1993, the Palestinian leader said he was "renewing again my obligation to peace, to the peace of the brave that you (Leah) believed in. Me and my people, despite all our suffering are committed to completing the peace process."