Israel urges diplomacy as Hezbollah conflict intensifies

March 31, 1996
Web posted at: 6:40 p.m. EST (2340 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The international diplomatic community increased its efforts Sunday to ease escalating tensions between Israeli forces and the militant Islamic group Hezbollah amid renewed threats of Hezbollah attacks on the Jewish state.

The latest threats came after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel Saturday. The group said the attack was in retaliation for an attack by an Israeli helicopter gunship earlier Saturday that killed two civilians in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said Saturday the rocket attacks on northern Israel were, "not our complete retaliation for the crime (of Israeli attacks). We consider that it is still our right to respond at the appropriate time."

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, while seeking resolution of the conflict through diplomatic channels, said the death of the civilians was an accident.

To many in northern Israel, Peres' announcement seemed conciliatory -- to others it was insulting. One man said, "We (Israelis) shouldn't be apologizing. They should apologize to us."

The United States was asked to intervene with Syria and Lebanon on Israel's behalf, stressing that Israel does not want to escalate tensions.

Meanwhile, Israel faces tension in another area. Palestinians are upset with the Israeli-imposed restriction of movement from Palestinian controlled areas.

Yasser Abu Rabbo, the Palestinian Information Minister, said, "We believe that the closure against the Palestinian territories, the confiscation of land, is a kind of declaration of war against the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian Justice Minister, Freikh Abu Medein, warned that if Israel increases restrictions on Palestinian rights, Palestinians should rethink normalizing ties with Israel.

Partially in response to the Palestinian demands, Israel announced that 3,000 workers from Gaza in special categories will be allowed to return to work at their jobs in Jerusalem.

Palestinians may be getting impatient. A protest march against Israeli restrictions was halted by Yasser Arafat's own police force just before it reached Israeli troops. A separate Hamas students rally was broken up by live ammunition and tear gas by Arafat's police.

From Correspondent Jerrold Kessel and wire reports

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• Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel - March 30

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