HEBRON, Al-Khalil, West Bank (Islamweb & Agencies) - A Palestinian attack in which two Jewish settlers were wounded triggered the fiercest gunbattle in the West Bank city of Hebron, Al-Khalil, on Friday since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began nine months ago.(Read photo caption below).

Witnesses said several Israeli tanks shelled a position of the elite Palestinian Force 17 unit in Hebron, Al-Khalil, where some 400 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves.

Palestinian residents also saw several Israeli armored vehicles moving into a Palestinian-controlled part of the city as bullets, shells and several anti-tank missiles whistled at flashpoints across the predominantly Palestinian city.

The battles, further proof that a U.S.-brokered cease-fire was all but dead, erupted after Palestinian Resistance men shot the two Israelis near the internationally illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, adjacent to Hebron, Al-Khalil.

An occupation army spokeswoman said one of the settlers was critically wounded.

Earlier, Palestinians had fired at a car near Kiryat Arba, critically injuring its driver -- a Jewish settler -- and wounding two people standing nearby, Israeli police said.

SETTLERS RAMPAGE THROUGH HEBRON, AL-KHALIL

Settlers then went on the rampage in the town, wounding more than 60 Palestinians, damaging about 100 cars and setting fire to houses, shops and olive groves, Palestinian witnesses said.

Elsewhere in the West Bank on Thursday, Israeli forces briefly seized a Palestinian-ruled area near the city of Nablus and killed a policeman with tank fire after Palestinian Resistance men shot and wounded a Jewish settler couple.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to abide by a U.S.-brokered cease-fire.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Israel was stepping up a military campaign against his people.
The Israeli occupation army said its soldiers took over a hill overlooking Nablus and the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha, where the family were fired on in their car. Parts of the hill are Palestinian-controlled under interim peace deals.

The occupation army occupied three homes in the nearby village of Kufur Qallil and razed uninhabited houses, erecting a checkpoint, Palestinian witnesses said.
Owners of the homes said the soldiers damaged furniture during the day's occupation.

Earlier, Israeli tank shells hit two buildings in Nablus belonging to Palestinian intelligence and the national security force, killing a policeman and wounding five people, including a 12-year-old boy, security and hospital officials said.

Israel's Channel One television said the tank fire was a step-up in the army's retaliation for Palestinian attacks since Sharon declared a so-called unilateral cease-fire in May.

The television's military affairs commentator, citing a new plan of response, said that from now on ``Israel will exact a price'' for every Palestinian assault on Israelis.

FATAH RESISTANCE MEN CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR SHOOTING:

Masked men who belonged to Arafat's Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the attack on the Israeli couple.

They released a videotape that showed the settlers' car screeching to a stop and then trying to turn around as gunfire echoed along a lonely road.

``The resistance will continue until the end of occupation,'' one of the men said, reading from a statement.

The 145 Jewish internationally illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, are at the heart of the Palestinian uprising against occupation.

Many movements into or out of settlements now take place under occupation army escort.

PHOTO CAPTION:

An Israeli policeman stops a Jewish settler boy from throwing stones at Palestinians during clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron, Al-Khalil, July 12, 2001. Israeli and Palestinian forces waged a heavy gun battle in early July 13 Palestinian Resistance men shot and wounded two Jewish settlers. (Loay Abu Haykel/Reuters)