New Mideast Violence Quashes Bilateral Security Pact

Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians and wounded more than 30 Saturday in a series of clashes, undermining a plan for the two sides to resume limited field-level cooperation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Saturday had dawned with the prospect that Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police would resume low-level security ties, including the work of 10 joint liaison offices in the heavily Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat had spoken by telephone Friday and agreed to reopen the offices, which were shut Thursday after an Israeli soldier was killed at a Gaza outpost.

However, Israeli troops at a liaison office in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire Saturday and shot back, the Israeli army said. A small number of Palestinians turned up at other liaison offices in Gaza and in the West Bank, but there was no cooperation between the two sides, the army said.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb went off near an Israeli army patrol on the border with Lebanon early today and several people were wounded, Israel Radio said.

After the blast, Israeli troops exchanged fire with Hezbollah guerrillas in an area near the disputed Shabaa Farms, Israel’s Channel Two television said.