Gunfire Jars Security Agreement

J E R U S A L E M, Nov. 25 -- A plan for Israeli and Palestinian securityforces to resume limited cooperation failed to take hold todayamid a series of clashes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. FourPalestinians were killed and more than 30 were wounded in thefighting, medical officials said.

Three of the Palestinians who died were shot by Israeli soldiersin confrontations in the West Bank at Jenin, Nablus and Arabeh.

Inaddition, 13-year-old Tayser al-Araj was killed in the Gaza Stripat Khan Yunis, hospital doctors said. The Israeli army said itfired live ammunition in Nablus after it came under gunfire butclaimed it used only rubber bullets to respond to stone throwers inJenin.

Follows Arafat-Barak Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader YasserArafat spoke by telephone Friday and agreed to renew low-levelsecurity ties, including the work of 10 joint liaison offices,which were shut Thursday after an Israeli soldier was killed at oneoutpost.

However, Israeli soldiers at the liaison office in the southernGaza Strip came under gunfire today and shot back, the Israeliarmy said. No injuries were reported, but the incident reflectedthe difficulty in implementing the plan.

A small number of Palestinian security officers turned up atother liaison offices in Gaza and the West Bank, but there was nocooperation between the two sides, the army said.

“I am sorry to say that the meeting and the communicationsbetween the two sides did not succeed in stopping the Israeliaggression,” said Marwan Kanafani, a spokesman for Arafat.

Symbols of Cooperation

Before the fighting began two months ago, the liaison officeswere a symbol of cooperation, albeit limited, between Israelis andPalestinians. The two sides conducted joint security patrols andworked out day-to-day problems in the field.

Restoring the cooperation is seen as an important first step inrebuilding the trust shattered by weeks of violence here that haveclaimed more than 270 lives, most of them Palestinian.