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As Palestinian Areas Blockaded, Israel Mulls Next Move
JERUSALEM, March 14 (News Agencies) - Israel was weighing its next move in the seething conflict with the Palestinians on Wednesday, facing strong pressure to lift a much criticized economic blockade as fresh violence flared, leaving one Palestinian dead and more than 10 injured.
Hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under fire over crippling sanctions imposed on the Palestinians after violence exploded almost six months ago, convened his security cabinet to debate tactics ahead of his meeting next week with U.S. President George W. Bush.
His Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who two days ago ordered an easing of restrictions on several West Bank towns, said he would work to lift the blockade that has devastated the Palestinian economy.
"I am going to work to open everything, the whole [West] Bank and the whole [Gaza] Strip," Ben Eliezer told parliament.
But he said that did not mean he would allow the opening of the borders between Israel and the Palestinian territories, which have been sealed since the start of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, almost six months ago.
And Sharon, just a week into his term, has insisted that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat first make a public call for an end to the violence.
"In order to be able to aid the [Palestinian] population, Arafat must call in his own voice for a halt to the terror, a halt to the incitement, preventative actions against terror and a return to security cooperation," Sharon told visiting European Union officials Tuesday.
In the Gaza Strip, Ahmed Banar, 19, was shot dead when Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinian youths standing near an army post between the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and the Karni crossing point into Israel, hospital officials and witnesses said.
His death brings to 437 the number of people killed in the unrest, most of them Palestinians.
In the West Bank, medical sources said 10 Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber bullets as several hundred protested on a road between Ramallah and Bir Zeit, which Palestinians began rebuilding after it was dug up several days ago by Israelis. Another two were injured in clashes in the town of al-Khader near Bethlehem.
"Closure does not frighten us," shouted the protestors. "We will continue the uprising until we have our freedom."
On Tuesday, Israel eased some restrictions preventing movement to and from several towns in the West Bank, including the main city of Ramallah, which had been under a tightened closure because of alleged information of a planned attack.
But the Palestinians denounced the move as "cosmetic," and the EU delegation called on Israel to lift sanctions or risk jeopardizing chances of restoring the collapsed peace process.
Russia also urged Israel to lift the siege, saying the situation had been aggravated "by the actions of the Israeli side aimed at isolating the West Bank and Gaza with the use of heavy military equipment."
The Palestinians said they would ask Arab leaders at their March 27th summit in Amman "urgently" to pay $320 million out of one billion dollars pledged five months ago to cover losses caused by the blockade.
Finance minister Mohammed Zuhdi Nashashibi told reporters they would also seek another $520 million in budgetary support over the next three years for the health, education and social welfare sectors.
At their last summit in October, Arab states pledged one billion dollars in aid to the Palestinians, but so far only $15 million have been paid.
The blockade claimed a casualty Wednesday, as relatives said a 48-year-old diabetic woman died on her way to a hospital after Israeli soldiers turned her away from a checkpoint outside Jenin.
The International Committee of the Red Cross began distributing tents, blankets, kitchen sets and hygiene kits to a total of 117 families in the Gaza Strip made homeless after Israeli troops destroyed their houses, classing them "trouble spots."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told official radio that Israel's "carrot and stick" policy towards the three million Palestinians "reflects a mentality of colonists, occupiers and masters who deal with slaves."
But Benny Gantz, commander of Israeli troops in the West Bank, warned: "The siege around Ramallah will remain [in force] while there exists a real danger of attacks being prepared in the city."
Meanwhile, Arafat left Wednesday on a previously unannounced visit to Libya to meet Colonel Moamer Kadhafi at the start of an Arab tour ahead of the Arab summit.
In Damascus, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose countries are the only Arab states to have made peace treaties with Israel, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
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