Associated Press

Palestinian gunmen shoot at Israeli positions during a gun battle in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla yesterday. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ordered gunmen to stop firing at Israeli forces who have seized parts of this West Bank town, and Israel said yesterday that it would withdraw if calm was restored

Thursday August 30, 2001 |

BEIT JALLA, West Bank - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ordered gunmen to stop firing at Israeli forces who have seized parts of this West Bank town, and Israel said yesterday that it would withdraw if calm was restored.

The tentative agreement was reached with U.S. and European help, but did not appear to be taking hold. There were fresh exchanges of fire after 8 p.m. yesterday when Palestinian officials said the truce was to begin.

After nightfall, an Israeli tank shell hit a building in the center of Beit Jalla, witnesses said. Two people outside were hurt.

Israel sent forces into Beit Jalla early Tuesday to try to quell Palestinian shooting from there at the nearby Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, built on war-won land Israel annexed to Jerusalem.

The Israeli incursion led to use of heavier weapons by the Palestinians. For the first time, 50-caliber machine gun bullets hit Gilo, and five mortar bombs landed overnight, causing damage but no casualties.

In 11 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israeli forces have repeatedly entered Palestinian territories, but stayed only a few hours. The incursion into Beit Jalla was the most extended so far, and threatened to enflame violence to a new peak.

In Washington, U.S. State Department officials said Secretary of State Colin Powell assured Arafat in a telephone conversation yesterday that the Bush administration was pressing Israel to withdraw from Beit Jalla, just south of Jerusalem.

Powell also asked Arafat to help restore calm to the region, the officials said.

European diplomats also worked to defuse the crisis - an aide to EU envoy Miguel Moratinos said European Union experts were in Beit Jalla - and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a veteran peace advocate, talked with Arafat several times.

Hassan Abed Rabbo, a senior member of Arafat's Fatah movement in Beit Jalla, said his forces received instructions yesterday afternoon from the Palestinian leader to stop shooting. ''We are committed to these instructions,'' he said.

Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said a tentative agreement for a cease-fire in place had been reached by leaders on both sides and transferred to local commanders. If the truce holds, he said, Israel would decide about pulling its troops out.

But Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said yesterday if Palestinians resumed shooting on the neighborhood after an Israeli withdrawal, his troops would ''absolutely'' move back into Beit Jalla.

In the morning, firefights raged between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen in Beit Jalla and the nearby Aida Palestinian refugee camp, and 13 Palestinians were injured. In a first sign that a truce was being enforced, witnesses said Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks at the entrance to Beit Jalla yesterday afternoon to keep gunmen out.

As part of the Israeli incursion, troops commandeered several rooftops of buildings with a view of the town. One was a Lutheran Church hostel. After a stiff protest from church leaders, the Israelis left the hostel early yesterday.

Forty-five children in an orphanage next door, who had been confined indoors by the fighting and an Israeli curfew, were allowed outside to play yesterday.

Ten-year-old Shihade Sharabati said he was frightened by the sound of heavy gunfire. ''Today, we collected the empty bullets and we played with them,'' the boy said. ''I will keep them as souvenirs.''