Military

DATE=10/31/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-268670

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: At least three Palestinians are dead after new fighting with Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. As VOA Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem, the clashes follow attacks by Israeli combat helicopters on Palestinian targets.

TEXT: Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers fought fresh clashes Tuesday the Gaza Strip. In one incident, several palestinians were killed during violence at the Karni crossing point between Gaza and Israel.

A television journalist for the Cable News Network (CNN), Ben Wedeman, was shot and suffered what were described as moderate injuries during the fighting.

The violence came after a night of attacks by Israeli combat helicopters on Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli officials say the attacks were meant as a warning that Israel can not tolerate a guerrilla war by the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement saying Israel will do whatever is necessary to protect the lives of its citizens and soldiers.

Israeli officials say the helicopter gunships targeted the Palestinian group known as the Tanzim, an armed militia that is part of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization. In Gaza, the helicopters also fired at the Force 17 headquarters of Mr. Arafat's presidential security forces. Israel accuses members of both groups of firing on Israeli soldiers

Israel launched the attacks after an Israeli security guard was shot in east Jerusalem, and the stabbing death of an Israeli resident of a Jewish neighborhood adjacent to the city. Chairman Arafat reacted defiantly saying such raids would not frighten even young boys involved in the uprising.

Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon says he will not form a national emergency coalition with Prime Minister Barak, and will now work to bring down Mr. Barak's government. Coalition negotiations stumbled over a demand by Mr. Sharon to have veto power over peace talks with the Palestinians. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party is promising to support the Barak government for one month, providing a so-called "safety net" as the country deals with the ongoing crisis.

The prime minister lost his parliamentary majority in July when Shas and other parties quit his coalition to protest concessions he was preparing to make at the U-S sponsored Camp David summit with the Palestinians.

The latest violence began in late September, when Mr. Sharon visited a sensitive site in Jerusalem's Old City that is sacred to Muslims and Jews. (Signed)

NEB/MB/KL/KBK