JERUSALEM (Islamweb & Agencies) - Israeli military officials said the occupation army had begun to send infantry and armored reinforcements to the West Bank overnight on Wednesday after an escalation in 10 months of a Palestinian uprising, intifadha, against Israeli occupation. The move came after a day of tit-for-tat violence in which Israeli helicopter gunships killed four activists of the Palestinian Resistance Hamas group and Palestinians launched their first West Bank mortar bomb attacks since the intifadha erupted in September. (Read map caption below).
Israeli Channel One television reported that the infantry and armored units would deploy on the borders of Palestinian-ruled areas in case a deterioration in the situation forced Israel to recapture the territories.
They said the forces would gather at a road in the Jewish settlement of Gilo, on the edge of Jerusalem, and deploy from there to different parts of the West Bank.
An armored bulldozer and two busloads of Israeli soldiers -- about 60 men -- arrived early on Wednesday at the meeting place, a Reuters camera crew said. The soldiers lay on the ground in groups, pouring over maps and listened to instructions from officers, they said.
The mobilization occurred two days before the Group of Eight Summit begins in Genoa, Italy. European and U.S. leaders whom Israel has asked to pressure Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to end the bloodshed are gathering at the summit.

U.S. WATCHING DEVELOPMENTS
When asked if the United States was aware of the latest Israeli troop movements, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington: ``The situation is fluid. We are following developments at the scene.''
He declined to comment further, but added: ``Our efforts, of course, are focused on security cooperation and practical efforts to bring the violence down.''
The Israeli military officials said the move was the result of a ``Palestinian refusal to abide by the Tenet agreement and to stop the use of they call terror against Israeli civilians.'' They were referring to a so-called cease-fire brokered last month by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet that has failed to take hold.
A mortar bomb attack on Gilo on Tuesday meanwhile touched off a fierce gun battle, the first in the area since the so-called U.S.-brokered cease-fire was put forward.
Later, the occupation army said Palestinians fired a second mortar bomb from the West Bank village of Beit Jala at a road frequented by Jewish settlers. No casualties were reported in either attack.
After the Israeli missile strike in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and the mortar bomb attacks, the Israeli occupation army reported shooting throughout the West Bank.
Occupation soldiers and Palestinians traded fire in the flashpoint city of Hebron, Al-Khalil and around Jewish settlements, the occupation army said. No casualties were reported in the gunfights, which continued throughout the night.Tuesday's violence came a day after a Palestinian bomber from the Resistance Islamic Jihad group blew himself up near a train station in northern Israel, killing two soldiers.
The fresh bloodshed lead to an exchange of threats. Fourteen Palestinian Resistance groups issued a statement vowing to target ``every occupation soldier and every settler'' and Israel pledged to retaliate for each Palestinian attack.

`` ESCALATION''
Marwan Barghouthi, a West Bank leader of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, which was included in the statement, said Israel's missile strike in Bethlehem would lead to ``more deterioration in the situation and more escalation.''
The air strike took place less than one km (half a mile) from the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe Jesus was born.
An Israeli government spokesman said Israel held Arafat's Palestinian Authority responsible for the Gilo attack because the mortar bomb was launched from territory under its control.
Israeli military sources said one of the Hamas activists killed, Omar Saada, 45, was a senior official in the organization's local branch and was planning what they called a ``terror attack'' at the closing ceremonies of the Jewish Olympics on July 23.
Israeli occupation troops have been on heightened alert after receiving warnings that Palestinian Resistance men were planning an attack at the Maccabiah Games that opened on Monday.
The night before, two Palestinians were killed near Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem while trying to build a bomb that police said may have been intended to go off at the opening ceremonies.
MAP CAPTION:
Israeli helicopter gunships killed four members of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance group Hamas in Bethlehem on July 17, 2001, a day after a Palestinian bombing in Israel. (Reuters Grap