JERUSALEM, ANKARA, (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A Palestinian blew himself up near an Israeli military checkpoint Wednesday and Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at two Palestinian security targets in a fresh spasm of violence in the West Bank.
The incidents deepened a cycle of bloodshed which has worsened this month, leaving a U.S.-brokered cease-fire dead on the ground. There is also no sign of a new peace initiative on the horizon to end more than 10 months of violence.
The Palestinian died after apparently detonating a bomb when a soldier approached him to inspect his car at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank's Jordan Valley.
An ambulance worker said the soldier was slightly hurt. The radio reports said he was hit in the leg by shrapnel.
No one was injured in the helicopter attack on security targets in the Palestinian town of Salfit, which followed the killing of a Jewish settler by Palestinian Resistance men in the area Tuesday.
Palestinian security sources said an office of the Palestinian Intelligence Service was struck, as well as a makeshift outpost of Arafat's Force 17 guard unit.
SHARON GOES TO TURKEY
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon flew to Ankara on Wednesday to urge his closest Middle Eastern ally to press Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to halt the uprising against Israeli occupation.
Sharon also hopes to strengthen strategic ties with Turkey, the region's other military heavyweight, on his first official visit there since he was elected in February.
Dozens of people were arrested in Istanbul Tuesday when they held a protest against Sharon's visit, which sparked headlines such as ``Terrorist visitor'' in one Islamist newspaper. (Read photo caption below)
Arafat has also been traveling abroad this week to push his own viewpoint. He visited Jordan and Morocco, where he made new calls for international monitors to be sent to the region. Israel has opposed the calls.
Arafat was back in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday where the Palestinian Legislative Council was meeting. It was expected to discuss creating a national unity government that could include representatives of militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Israel has been urging Arafat to round up militants on a most-wanted list, but the Palestinian leadership has refused and responded with a list of their own of most-wanted Israeli settler terrorists to be arrested by Sharon's government first.
The latest violence followed the killing Tuesday of Zohar Shurgi as he drove near Salfit and the Jewish settlement of Ariel. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group affiliated with Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the killing.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Young Turks shout slogans to protest against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Turkey, in Istanbul Tuesday Aug. 7, 2001. Police detained 25 people Tuesday. Sharon is due to arrive in Turkey late Tuesday for a one-day visit during which he will meet with Turkey's president and prime minister. Protester at right T-shirt's reads "the murderer Ariel Sharon." (AP Photo/Cumhur Karap)
- Aug 07 3:54 PM ET