West Bank Clashes Continue, but Level of Violence Subsides

Scattered fighting between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces erupted for a fifth day Tuesday, but the Palestinian authorities appeared to contain much of the violence after pointed warnings from Israeli and U.S. officials.

In contrast to deadly rioting the day before, Tuesday’s incidents were confined to de rigueur exchanges of stones, firebombs and rubber bullets, with only a handful of injuries reported and no new fatalities.

U.S. special Middle East envoy Dennis B. Ross arrived here late Monday and on Tuesday held a two-hour session with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to urge restraint and to attempt to repair the damage so that crucial peace negotiations can proceed. He later met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

“Both sides are working hard to calm the environment, and that is the key to restoring calm,” Ross said after meeting with Arafat. “But it is also a key to being able to move this peace process forward. . . . What we are focused on is trying to end the pain and end the sorrow of the conflict.”

Ross arrived in Israel from Stockholm, where he took part in secretive back-channel negotiations being conducted by some of the most seasoned players in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Those talks are taking on a growing aura of seriousness, especially as efforts here at home founder.

It was another series of secret back-channel talks, in Norway, that led in 1993 to the most significant breakthrough in efforts to end the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians--the so-called Oslo accords.

Officials on both sides have done little more than confirm that the Stockholm talks are taking place. But Israeli radio reported Tuesday that the key “final-status” issues--including the fate of Palestinian refugees and competing claims over Jerusalem, which Israelis and Palestinians both view as their capital--are on the table.

Meanwhile, the mood in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank and Gaza Strip was tense but more subdued than Monday, when riots raged and degenerated into rare gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police. About a dozen Palestinian protesters were hurt Tuesday in fighting with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the site of Ross’ meeting with Arafat and of the fiercest clashes the day before. In addition, a Jewish motorist was injured in Bethlehem by stone-throwing Palestinians, the Israeli army said, and six Israeli soldiers were slightly hurt.

Palestinian and Israeli security officials held a string of reportedly tense meetings overnight and throughout the day Tuesday to plan ways to avoid additional bloodshed. While warning against possible terrorist attacks, Israeli officials said they believed that the worst of the street violence was over for the time being.

“Arafat has every reason to stop it,” said one Israeli security official. “He has showed his power and made his point.”

There was no question that Monday’s furious demonstrations were orchestrated by the Palestinian leadership, but the violence may have spiraled out of even Arafat’s control.

Maj. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, a senior Israeli army commander, briefed reporters early Tuesday and accused the Palestinian police of instigating most of the live-ammunition fire. Yaalon said the police let the demonstrations, which left four people dead and hundreds injured, get out of hand.

“We have boosted our forces on major roads, around settlements and military bases,” he said. “We are ready to confront any new clashes like those of the past few days.”

Extreme outbreaks of violence, contrary to what might seem logical, have sometimes served as a catalyst here for progress in peace negotiations.

On the other hand, Israeli and Palestinian analysts alike warned about the perilous volatility of the festering close-to-the-surface hostilities. Arafat’s attempt to use often violent demonstrations as a tool, warned one commentator, is like “playing with fire.”