JERUSALEM, (Islamweb & News Agencies) -Israel was braced for more Resistance bombings Saturday after occupation troops shot dead one Palestinian and wounded 10 others, and occupation authorities arrested two Palestinian Resistance men they say intended to set off a bomb in a crowded port city.
As occupation intelligence reports warned of further attacks, occupation authorities said Israel had tightened its grip around Bethlehem, Ramallah and Qalqiliya in the West Bank in a bid to stop Palestinians from getting around roadblocks and entering Israel.
Israeli occupation soldiers meanwhile shot dead a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip late Friday and wounded 10 others, three seriously, a hospital source said.
Abdel Rahman Abu Bakra, 29, was shot in the head when Israeli tanks opened fire with cannon and machine guns after entering an autonomous Palestinian sector at Khan Yunes in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Police on Friday set up blockades on the main thoroughfares in northern Israel, in particular in the Haifa area, at entrances to the port, and the Hadera region northwest of Tel Aviv.
Army patrols, border guards and explosives sniffer dogs were also deployed in force in many areas, including around the central market in west Jerusalem.
Israel claimed Friday evening that the measures had paid dividends, announcing the arrest of two members of the Resostamce Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, said to be carrying a bomb they intended to set off in Haifa.
Security officials said the pair were detained by agents of Israel's occupation domestic security agency, Shin Beth, in the Arab Israeli village of Baka el-Gharbyeh, in the Wadi Ara area northeast of Tel Aviv on Friday morning.
They were said to be carrying a bomb packed with 10 kilograms of explosives, nails and chunks of metal.
The Israeli press was full of warnings of further Palestinian Resistance attacks as the intifadha (uprising) against Israeli occupation that has left 720 people dead since it began in September showed no signs of letting up.
The Yediot Ahoronot paper reported Israeli security had received "hot" pinpoint warnings of intended Resistance bomb attacks in the north and centre of Israel by Islamic Jihad and its larger rival, Hamas.
Public radio cited a senior security official warning that the Palestinians were trying to smuggle explosives and car bombs from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The heightened tensions come after two recent Resistance bombings in west Jerusalem and Haifa. Along with the bombers, 15 people died and more than 100 others were injured in those two incidents.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and armoured troop carriers remained on standby to enter Beit Jala, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, if Palestinian Resistance men opened fire again on the neighbouring Jewish settlement of Gilo.
On the diplomatic front, Osama al-Baz, a top aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said officials from Washington and Cairo would spend the next two days studying ideas put forward during his talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell to return peace to the region.
Baz did not offer any details about either his or Powell's proposals but said he was pleased that there appeared not to be a wide divergence of opinion in them.
"The gap is not that big between our thinking and their thinking, and we hope for some developments in the region, on the ground," he said in Washington. "We need a drastic change of the present situation.
"We believe that we can work out certain arrangements for the purpose of enabling us to get the parties started on the implementation of the Mitchell recommendations," Baz said, referring to the peace plans drawn up by a panel headed by former US Senator George Mitchell.
The UN Security Council will hold a public meeting on Monday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, according to its president, Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia.
A senior Palestinian official Friday called on the United States not to block a Security Council resolution condemning Israel.
"We call on the American administration not to block the Security Council from voting on a resolution" condemning Israel, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said in a statement after meeting in the West Bank town of Jericho with US envoy David Satterfield.
He said the Palestinian Authority had approached the UN "for major international support to secure a halt to Israeli aggressions against institutions in Jerusalem and Abu Dis," referring to the closure of Orient House, the unofficial headquarters of the Palestinians in occupied east Jerusalem, and a Palestinian office in the Abu Dis suburb.
The statement said the US envoy reiterated his country's opposition to "any security council resolution" on the matter.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli border police officers stand guard at a road block Friday, Aug. 17, 2001, on a street leading to the Orient House, the PLO headquarters in east Jerusalem that was taken over by Israeli troops a week ago. The Orient House is a symbol of Palestinian right to east Jerusalem as a future capital. Israel seized the compound last week in response to a Resistance bombing by Palestinian Resistance in Jerusalem that killed 16 people, including the assailant. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)
- Aug 17 10:02 AM ET