With the threat of more violence looming ahead in the coming days, the Palestinian leadership has called on the United Nations Security Council to put an end to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. “The Palestinian leadership calls on the members of the Security Council to adopt a resolution that puts an end to the Israeli aggression against our people, our women, our children and our holy Muslim and Christian sites,” said a communique following a meeting chaired by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must choose between a return to peace talks or continued confrontation with Israel. “Arafat and the Palestinian authority must decide whether to return to the negotiating table to reach peace or whether they are going down the road of confrontation and violence,” Barak said on Thursday in a press conference in Tel Aviv. “They will have to be ready to assume the consequences of their choice,” he added. The Israeli Army closed off the West Bank and Gaza strip overnight on Thursday until Monday, a military spokesman announced. The cordon went into effect at 2 am GMT until the end of the Yom Kippur festival on Monday evening, the spokesman said. The measure is taken each year to prevent terrorist action during the most important Jewish feasts of the year. The cordoning-off begins 48 hours before the festivals, after which Palestinians are not allowed out of their territories and into Israel proper. Nor are they allowed to travel between the Gaza strip and the West Bank. On the ground, there were exchanges of gunfire at several points in Gaza and the West Bank.

Bureau Report