The Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called for an extraordinary Arab summit to respond to the increased Israeli militarisation against the Palestinians in the West Bank. He was speaking on his return from a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. Israel said the deployment was a warning to Palestine to stop anti-Israeli attacks. Thousands of Palestinians have marched through the streets of Bethlehem, carrying the bodies of four men killed in yesterday's air-strike on the city.
Earlier the Israeli Army began its largest movement of troops since the latest violence began ten months ago. It has sent troops and tanks into the West Bank, reportedly "in response to mortar attacks by Palestinians close to Jerusalem". The move came after a day of tit-for-tat violence in which Israeli helicopter gunships killed four people and wounded many more.
Israel Radio said that Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had decided to reinforce troops around Palestinian-ruled Jenin and Bethlehem. However, the intention is that they will hold their fire to avoid escalation in fighting.
