Associated Press
JERUSALEM – Israeli tanks rolled into Palestinian-controlled territory Sunday and pounded houses with artillery as they pursued gunmen who had opened fire on Israeli forces. One Palestinian was killed and 20 were injured in the firefight on Jerusalem’s southern fringes.
Thick clouds of black and white smoke in the town of Beit Jalla completely obscured stone and cinderblock houses that were under Israeli fire for several hours in one of the most intense shootouts in recent weeks. Shooting erupted at several other spots in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Amid the latest fighting, Israeli and Palestinian officials gave mixed reviews of the U.S.-led Mitchell Commission, which issued a draft report of its investigation into the more than seven months of Mideast violence.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres described the report as “fair and balanced.” However, Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh said the report’s call for a halt to construction at Jewish settlements conflicted with peace accords that state the fate of the communities will be worked out in a final agreement.
“There’s no connection between the settlements and the wave of violence that we have witnessed,” Naveh told Israel television.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians “accept the findings … in as much as they point directly to Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian land.”
But the report did not support the Palestinian call for an international force, which Abed Rabbo described as one of several “oversights.”
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