Barak cancels U.S. trip due to violence in Lebanon, Palestinian areas

RAMALLAH, The West Bank - Prime Minister Ehud Barak late Saturday postponed a planned trip to Washington for a meeting with President Clinton because of continued violence in southern Lebanon and the Palestinian areas.

In a statement released by his office, Barak said that the trip was being delayed, but gave no alternate date. Barak's spokesman, Gadi Baltiansky, said it was unlikely the prime minister would be able to travel later in the week.

The announcement followed a late night security Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv.

In towns around the Palestinian areas, thousands of demonstrators threw stones at police and were met with a hail of rubber-coated steel bullets. More than 100 injuries were reported in all. Two cameramen from the Reuters news agency were injured by the rubber-coated bullets, one in the Gaza Strip and the other in the divided West Bank town of Hebron.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, clashes escalated after it was announced that a Palestinian man who was shot in the head by Israeli army gunfire on Friday had died. Doctors identified the victim as 28-year-old Issa Abed, a cafeteria worker at nearby Bir Zeit University.

By Saturday evening, the shops and restaurants of Ramallah had shut down as the town began an official mourning for Abed. His death brought to four the number of Palestinians killed in a week of clashes, including several gunbattles, between Israelis and Palestinians.

The violence comes as Israel and the Palestinians are working on a final peace treaty to settle long-standing issues like the nature of a Palestinian state, the future of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinians want to set up a state with traditionally Arab east Jerusalem as the capital. They insist that refugees who fled Israel when it was created in 1948 have the right to return.

The sides have set a September deadline for a final treaty, but negotiations have progressed slowly.

Beginning last Sunday, Palestinians took to the streets to press demands for the release of 1,650 prisoners held by Israel for anti-Israeli attacks. On Monday, Palestinian police and civilian activists of Arafat's party opened fire on Israeli soldiers. Palestinian activists declared Friday and Saturday "days of rage" to draw attention to the prisoner issue.

Barak has threatened to delay an upcoming Israeli withdrawal from three West Bank villages next to Jerusalem if the violence is not immediately curtailed.

Meanwhile, that violence continued unabated. In Hebron, about 1,500 demonstrators marched toward an Israeli army checkpoint at the entrance to the Israeli-controlled downtown area Saturday. Palestinian police did not intervene. Standing on rooftops and behind cement blocks, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at hundreds of stone throwers.

Twirling a slingshot, Ahmed Qawasmeh, 22, said he has a brother in jail and would do whatever he can to win his release.

"We were waiting for this moment to show our anger and our disappointment over the peace process," he said.

Paramedics trying to evacuate one injured demonstrator dropped him repeatedly to duck stones and rubber bullets. Another Palestinian was about to throw a stone when he was hit in the chest by a rubber bullet and fell to the ground. Three bystanders carried him to an ambulance, one of six on standby at the scene. In all, 31 people were injured in Hebron, paramedics said.

North of Hebron, a bus carrying Israeli Arabs was stoned by Palestinians, the army said, injuring one passenger slightly.

In the West Bank town of Nablus, medical officials said two Palestinians were injured moderately by live bullets shot by Israeli soldiers. The army said it was checking into the claims. Four others were injured in Nablus by rubber bullets, including one man who was shot in the eye.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, about 400 Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers guarding a crossing point into Israel. A phalanx of six Israeli jeeps tried to hold the crowd at bay. About two dozen young men took cover behind barrels just 20 yards from the Israeli soldiers, lunging forward from time to time to throw stones. Thirty Palestinians were hurt, medical officials said.

An Israeli soldier was injured slightly by stones in Tulkarem and a second soldier suffered slight injuries near Bethlehem.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, 22 Palestinians were injured in clashes in the town of Ramallah and 20 in the town of Jenin, according to the officials. Almost all the injuries were from rubber bullets.

In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinian police tried to keep stone-throwers away from an isolated Israeli army post near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. At first Palestinian police moved aggressively, tackling stone-throwers, bundling them into pickup trucks and driving them away. However, most of the demonstrators made their way back to the scene.

At least six injuries were reported.

In southern and eastern Lebanon on Saturday, Israeli airstrikes and guerrilla shelling caused power outages in border communities.

Israel's air force struck suspected guerrilla infiltration trails at four different locations along the front line, as guerrillas - who have pledged to drive the Israelis out in humiliation - launched a series of attacks.

Jets also struck deep inside Lebanon, targeting a base for Syrian-backed radical Palestinian guerrillas near the Syrian border, Lebanese and Israeli officials said.

There was no independent word on casualties from Saturday's fighting.

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