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Barak says Israel won't retaliate for killing of soldier

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November 20, 2000 

JERUSALEM--(UNB/AP) - Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday that Israel did not plan any immediate retaliation for the deadly attack on a soldier a day earlier, the latest sign that Israeli and Palestinian leaders were trying to reduce tensions and end seven weeks of fighting.

Despite Barak's statement, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to the Palestinians.

Also, an Israeli diplomat in Amman, Jordan, was slightly injured when he was shot on his way to work, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Yoram Havivian was treated at a Jordanian hospital and was to return to Israel later in the day, said ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari. Barak called the Amman shooting "very grave" and called on Jordanian authorities to apprehend the attacker.

Israel has a long history of swift retaliation when its soldiers or civilians have been attacked. On Saturday, a 21-year-old soldier was killed and two more were wounded in the Gaza Strip by a Palestinian policeman, who was killed by return fire.

But with the overall level of violence declining, Barak told his Cabinet that Israel would not respond militarily at this point.

"Israel would make a mistake if it caused an immediate escalation, since there is no doubt that we would be accused of torpedoing chances for calm," Barak said in a statement issued by his office.

Army commanders, meanwhile, said the Palestinian attacker apparently acted on his own in Saturday's attack.

Barak's comments came two days after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called on Palestinian gunmen to stop shooting at Israelis from territory under his control. Arafat did not refer to land under Israeli control. Still, it was his first statement urging an end to violence from the Palestinian side.

In a confrontation Sunday, Abdel Rahman al-Dahashan, 14, was killed when he was shot in the chest at a stone-throwing demonstration at the Karni crossing with Israel, Palestinian doctors and witnesses said.

However, the Israeli army said it was not aware of clashes at Karni and did not shoot any live fire toward protesters.

The army said it did return fire at Palestinian gunmen who shot at an Israeli bus traveling on a nearby road, the army said. One Palestinian driving a cargo truck was injured from the Israeli fire, Israel radio reported.

As of Sunday afternoon, there were no reports of major clashes in the Palestinian territories, in line with a general decline in clashes in recent days.

The commander of Israel's southern forces, Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Samia, noted a marked decrease in attacks against Israeli troops, with five shooting incidents overnight in the Gaza Strip, compared to as many as 20 on average nights in recent weeks.

The Palestinians said Sunday that their security forces were trying to implement Arafat's call for restraint.

"The order means that there will not be shooting from all the areas that we control," Hisham Abdel Razek, the Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, told Israel radio.

But "the popular intefadeh," or uprising, will continue until Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian lands, Abdel Razek said.

More than 230 people have been killed in the fighting, 200 of them Palestinians. The bloodshed began after the leader of Israel's opposition, nationalist Ariel Sharon, visited a disputed holy site in Jerusalem on Sept. 28.