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Clashes Continue In Palestinian Territories
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 13 (News Agencies) - Clashes flared again in the occupied Palestinian territories Friday, dimming hopes of an easing of Israel's blockade, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned the Palestinians can expect no more than they already have as the territory of a future state.
In an interview with the daily Maariv, Sharon said he would only be prepared to grant the Palestinians an independent state covering less than half the West Bank, defenseless and with its borders controlled by the Israelis for years to come.
Violence broke out throughout the Palestinian territories at the end of weekly Muslim prayers, leaving 29 Palestinians and five Israelis injured, most of them lightly.
Fifteen of the Palestinians, three of them children, were injured in a clash with Israeli troops at al-Muntar, near the Karni crossing point between the Gaza Strip with Israel.
Hundreds of supporters of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad turned out for a Gaza City rally, termed a "celebration of allegiance with the martyrs" of the Intifada, or uprising, which has left more than 475 dead, mostly Palestinians, since it broke out in late September.
Abdullah Shami, a Jihad leader, warned that the group's armed wing, Saraya al-Qods (Jerusalem Brigades), had "a vast number of people ready to carry out explosions and spread terror in Israel."
Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin said that, "so far we have not noted a significant reduction in the violence."
The Palestinians said after a security meeting on Wednesday that Israel had pledged to ease the blockade by removing some border restrictions, opening roads, increasing the number of Palestinians allowed to go to their jobs in Israel, and "attempting" to lift the siege on towns in the West Bank.
Reports said the measures might be taken before a new security meeting, only the third since hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assumed office more than a month ago, takes place on Monday.
The daily Haaretz, quoting "reports reaching the army," said Friday Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had ordered his security services to crack down on the firing of mortars by Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
Sharon, who has vowed not to resume peace negotiations until the Palestinians stop hitting the Israelis, said in an interview published Thursday that Arafat "is beginning to soften" under Israeli pressure.
An authoritative Israeli source confirmed Friday a report in Maariv that Avi Dichter, head of Israel's internal security service Shin Beth, had issued a warning to Arafat in a personal meeting this week.
He had transmitted a message from Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer that Israel "would strike directly at institutions of the Palestinian Authority if Palestinian mortar fire does not end."
There was no official Palestinian confirmation of the meeting.
Under Sharon, the Israelis have mounted heavy strikes on bases of the Palestinian security forces in response to mortar fire and other attacks, while on Tuesday night they sent tanks into a Gaza Strip refugee camp to destroy buildings they claimed were being used by mortar teams.
Israel has also pursued the policy of Sharon's predecessor Ehud Barak in assassinating individuals alleged to be behind anti-Israeli operations. The Palestinians said late Thursday they had foiled an assassination bid by car bomb for the first time.
On the regional front, Jordan's Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib said that he will become the highest-ranking Arab official to visit Sharon since he took office.
There was no immediate confirmation by Israeli officials of the meeting, expected to take place on Monday.
Jordan and Egypt presented this month a joint plan aimed at bringing an end to the deadly conflict, but the Israelis have already rejected it.
In his Maariv interview Friday, Sharon said a future Palestinian state could only be formed in agreement with Israel, and would only extend over some 42% of the territory of the West Bank seized by the Jewish state in 1967.
This would be no more than the Palestinians already control totally or partially under previous accords, plus a small additional area already agreed but not yet handed over.
Their state "would have no arms, Israel would have to maintain control of its borders for years and it could not sign treaties with states hostile to Israel."
The Palestinians, who also control 70% of the Gaza Strip, have ruled out anything less than a state covering the entire territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, including east Jerusalem, which they want as their capital.
Sharon has already rejected any concessions on east Jerusalem, home of disputed sites holy to both Muslims and Jews, whose annexation by Israel to make the whole city its undivided capital is not recognized internationally.
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