Israeli troops clash with Palestinians in Nablus

NABLUS, West Bank -- Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at Palestinian stone throwers, wounding 16, and tanks rolled through West Bank towns Saturday as Palestinian leaders appealed for international intervention to stave off a new round of violence.

Palestinian officials urged the United States and other countries to help broker a truce after a week of violence that threatens to sink the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

The death toll from Tuesday's Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus rose to 21 Saturday as a 70-year-old Israeli woman died of her injuries. The attack prompted Israel to kill a Hamas leader, and Islamic militants in turn threatened a wave of new attacks.

Top Palestinian officials said their hands were tied in what looked set to be an all-out war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

"We've reached a point where the situation is in urgent need of foreign intervention so that we can return to the political track," Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said after a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Several previous cease-fire negotiations, including those led by former President Clinton and by CIA chief George Tenet, have failed.

Hoping for new cease-fire

In the West Bank cities of Hebron and Nablus, Israeli troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians.

In Nablus, the army said soldiers tried to disperse dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks and firebombs.

Since Tuesday's bus bombing, Israeli soldiers have retaken positions in and around West Bank towns and re-established key checkpoints in the Gaza Strip.

A temporary cease-fire declared by militant groups two months ago dissolved following Israel's killing of a Hamas leader Thursday in a helicopter rocket attack.

Now, Palestinian leaders say they hope to discuss a new cease-fire -- this time, one Israel might also be asked to sign.

But Israel said it wasn't interested in making new agreements while the Palestinians have yet to live up to commitments under the current road map, which calls for the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.

"What else must happen in order for the Palestinian Authority to get its act together?" senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir said.

The peace plan calls for an immediate end to violence, an eventual construction freeze in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the immediate dismantling of settlement outposts. It envisions the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.

Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat met with U.S. envoy John Wolf Saturday and urged the United States to pressure Israel to halt killings of militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered a campaign of targeted killings against militant leaders -- Palestinians call them assassinations -- following Tuesday's bus bombing.

The Palestinians say Thursday's killing forced them to suspend a planned crackdown on militants. Efforts were under way to reopen talks with militants to rescue the cease-fire, said Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinian labor minister.

In the streets of Gaza City Saturday night, about 300 supporters of the militant group Islamic Jihad marched out of a mosque chanting, "From Gaza to Jenin, resistance will continue."

The group's leader, Nafez Azzam, warned that the Israeli policy of targeting killings "is a very a serious and dangerous step ... and the world should be aware of the consequences."

On Friday, the United States froze the assets of six Hamas leaders and five European-based organizations that it said raise money for the group. Five Americans were among those killed in the Hamas bombing.

A prominent Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, lashed out at President Bush, calling him "Islam's biggest enemy" in comments carried by Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya. He called the U.S. decision to freeze assets "a theft of Muslim money by the Americans."

Following the latest violence, the army has re-established large numbers of checkpoints, severely restricting movement between towns.

At one checkpoint outside Ramallah, six musicians struck up traditional Arab songs while dozens of cars waited in line and soldiers fired blanks to scare away Palestinian children throwing stones.

Viola player Ramzi Hussein, 24, said the purpose of the music was to bring "a change of atmosphere" for drivers and pedestrians.

"Even if it is just for half an hour, at least when they pass through this miserable checkpoint maybe we can put a smile on their faces," he said.