A Palestinian has been killed by a shell fired by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Hebron in an incident that also left the man's four children wounded. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army reported no casualties following a roadside bomb attack against a convoy of Israeli cars driving from the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Israeli security forces have been warning that Islamic militants were planning bomb attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in Israeli cities.
Attempts by the Israeli Prime Minister to form a national emergency government to handle the conflict with the Palestinians have suffered a setback. Discussions with the leader of the Likud Party, Ariel Sharon, ended without agreement, although it is reported that more talks are planned. Mr Sharon is a right-wing former General, whose presence three weeks ago at a site in Jerusalem holy to both Jews and Muslims is thought to have sparked off the fighting. The Palestinians have said that Mr Sharon is unacceptable.
It is reported that the idea of a national unity government has met with stiff resistance from within Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak's government as well as the Right. One of the preconditions set by ten of the 19 Likud MPs is that Mr Barak publicly renounce the concessions to the Palestinians as laid out in the failed Camp David talks. The Right has denounced those concessions as unacceptable. Yesterday, Mr Barak condemned what he called the "language of threats" which emerged from the Cairo summit and suspended the Middle East peace process brokered by the United States.
Ehud Barak has said that Israel would strive for a peace deal with the Palestinians but he warned that his country is facing the immediate danger of severe attacks. Meanwhile, Israel has authorised Gaza's international airport, the Palestinians' only air links with the outside world, to reopen early tomorrow following today's closure. Israel is also consolidating its encircling of the West Bank town of Beit Jala, which was attacked last night with helicopter gunships and tanks. The Israeli army said that it blockaded Beit Jala after shots were fired from there at a nearby Jewish settlement. The death toll from the fighting has risen to 128 following the death of one more Palestinian. All but eight of the dead have been Arabs.
