Israelis Seal Off 2 West Bank Cities

As warfare between Israel and the Palestinians surged to alarming levels Friday, Israeli forces sealed off two principal West Bank cities, angry Palestinian militia members buried a slain commander, and leaders on both sides indicated that they had given up on renewing peace talks.

Israeli troops shot dead four Palestinians in fierce clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was killed by Palestinian snipers on the outskirts of Bethlehem after the funeral for the militia commander, who was killed by Israeli forces a day earlier.

Saying it was responding to the violence in Bethlehem and in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the West Bank, the Israeli army tightened its grip on the two cities. Truckloads of heavily armed troops could be seen moving into position to surround Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ.

An army spokesman said the purpose of the stiffened closure was to punish the populace, which won’t be allowed to leave cities for work, school or any other travel.

“The message is that the population cannot go on supporting this terrorism and living their lives like nothing is happening,” Israeli army spokesman Maj. Yarden Vatikay said.

Palestinian gunmen have used parts of Bethlehem and the nearby villages of Beit Sahur and Beit Jala to fire on Israeli military sites and settlements. Israel has fired back, sometimes with helicopter gunships and tank cannons.

Bethlehem was the site Friday of a massive funeral for Hussein Abeiat, a Palestinian field commander accused by Israel of planning or participating in a series of deadly attacks. In a stunning “preemptive” strike, an Israeli combat helicopter tracked Abeiat as he drove through Beit Sahur on Thursday and blasted his vehicle, killing him and two women who were nearby waiting for a taxi.

Palestinian leaders accused Israel of “state terrorism” in the helicopter attack, the first in the six-week conflict in which Israel deliberately singled out an individual commander for execution. One official in Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah political movement said the Palestinians were now in a declared war with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who heads for meetings with President Clinton on Sunday in Washington, defended the operation Friday and added that he considers it “farfetched” to expect a resumption of peace talks with Arafat.

“I don’t expect that the talks in Washington will lead to a renewal of negotiations,” Barak told reporters while touring an Israeli army base in the West Bank. “I will be going to Washington Sunday for another effort . . . to end the violence.”

Barak was seeking to lower expectations for his Washington trip, not that that was necessary.

Arafat was also in the United States, meeting with Clinton on Thursday and addressing the United Nations on Friday. No progress--not even hints of a formula for easing the bloodshed--was reported from Arafat’s meeting with Clinton.

Arafat appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Friday for a 2,000-strong U.N. protection force to safeguard Palestinian civilians.

Israel opposes the idea, and Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan both said they would not support the force unless both sides agreed to it.

Arafat spoke to the council for about 40 minutes about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians that has cost the lives of nearly 200 people so far, mostly Palestinians. Flanked by bodyguards, Arafat whisked past reporters without a comment when he left the council.

After Arafat’s departure, Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Lancry explained to the council why Israel opposes U.N. troops.

“What we need now is not an international presence which really can run against the spirit of the peace process,” Lancry said. “We need a direct approach with the Palestinian partner in order to bring back the calm and the security in order to resume the peace talks.”

Talk of “partners” notwithstanding, both sides were hardening their positions amid a day-after-day violence that has ripped to shreds a once-promising pursuit of peace.

Funerals were held Friday for both Abeiat and the two women killed with him.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Bethlehem’s Manger Square to mourn Abeiat. They waved flags from every Palestinian faction, including the radical Islamic group Hamas. Pictures of Abeiat wearing camouflage fatigues and brandishing an automatic rifle were plastered all over the town and decorated black T-shirts of many of his followers.

The mourners marched en masse several miles to Abeiat’s Bedouin village for burial in what the locals said was a new cemetery for future victims of the so-called Al Aqsa intifada, the name given this uprising in honor of the Jerusalem mosque where it started Sept. 28.

Streaming over the rocky West Bank hills outside Bethlehem like flocks on a pilgrimage, the mourners converged on the cemetery chanting, “Death to Jews!” and “Revenge!” Men in black ski masks fired automatic rifles into the air from near Abeiat’s flag-wrapped body and from within the crowd.

Abeiat’s friends and relatives blasted Israel for its “cowardly” attack and bemoaned Arafat’s attempts to negotiate with Barak and Clinton.

“It’s a waste of time,” Abeiat’s cousin Hammed declared as he fingered black worry beads. “No peace!” shouted the men around him.

Far from deterring violence, they said, Israel’s aggressive actions will only escalate it.

“Whenever someone dies, 100 others will take his place,” said Hassan abu Srour, 58. “We are not retreating. We are only going forward.”

A second funeral later for the two women brought hundreds more people into the streets of Beit Sahur. Rahmi Shahin and Aziza Shaibat, both in their 50s, were killed in the rocketing of Abeiat’s car.

“Everybody is targeted. The whole town is under attack,” moaned a tearful cousin of Shaibat, 63-year-old Aziza Eid.

Israel said Abeiat was a dangerous menace and that precautions were taken to minimize civilian casualties. No apology has been issued for the deaths of the women.

West Bank Fatah leader Hussein Sheikh told reporters that his organization now considers itself “in a state of war” with Israel, and Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour told a Qatari television station that he no longer considers peace accords with Israel to be binding. Neither Sheikh nor Asfour is a top Palestinian policymaker, but both reflected widely held popular sentiment.

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Times staff writer Maggie Farley at the United Nations contributed to this report.