As many as 10 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank yesterday, making a mockery of the supposed ceasefire understandings brokered by President Clinton earlier in the week.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, said he intended to "take a time out" from the peace process early next week - a break that would last "as long as is necessary. . . . to absorb the implications" of the descent into violence.
Mr Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian peace negotiator, called last night for "international protection at the entrances to our towns", to help prevent the clashes, in which more than 110 people, all but eight of them Arabs, have been killed. But Israel said it would refuse to co-operate with a UN inquiry into human rights violations.
The clashes in the Ramallah and Nablus areas, among others, were heavier than they had been for days. South of Nablus, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli soldiers, who shot back, killing four of them. Three Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli fire in Salfit, Qalqilya and Ramallah. Shots were exchanged on the ceasefire line between Israel and Lebanon in the disputed Shebaa Farms region, an Israeli military source said.
After dark in Jerusalem, Palestinian gunfire was again directed at the Gilo neighbourhood, and Israeli tanks fired back.
The U.N. General Assembly condemned the "excessive use of force" by Israel against Palestinian civilians in a resolution adopted by a vote of 92 to 6 with 46 abstentions. The Assembly's resolution supported the establishment of a US-led inquiry as called for at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit. It also said that "Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, are illegal" and an obstacle to peace.