Palestinians 'at war' with Israel By Alan Philps in Jerusalem

PALESTINIANS declared a "state of war" with Israel yesterday, a day after one of the leaders of their uprising was killed by rockets fired from a helicopter gunship. Ehud Barak: 'We will hit those who hit us' Israel was braced for retaliation. Ehud Barak, the Prime Minister, said: "We will hit those who hit us." The army shot dead four more Palestinians during another "day of rage" yesterday. This brought the number killed in six weeks of clashes to 200. Bethlehem and Ramallah were sealed off by troops after a soldier was shot and wounded in the neck.

Hussein Abayat, a Palestinian militia chief, was the first Palestinian official killed by Israel during the current crisis. Hussein al-Sheikh, one of the leaders of the movement headed by Yasser Arafat said: "We in Fatah consider ourselves in a state of war with Israel."

He said: "We believe that this phase of targeting the leadership of the Palestinian uprising frees our hands from any agreement struck in the past." He accused Israel of "state terrorism". Abayat, whom Israel accused of staging shooting attacks against Jews, was given a huge send-off at his funeral in Bethlehem, with dozens of armed Palestinian militiamen escorting his flag-draped body to the cemetery.

Mr Barak sought to lower expectations from his trip to Washington beginning this weekend to discuss the crisis with President Clinton. He said: "It is too far-fetched to predict now that the peace negotiations will resume."

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 10, 2000