Mideast violence flares, despite calls from Bush

Palestinians in Hebron aims stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes on Wednesday

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel insisted Wednesday that a cease-fire it declared remains in place, but an Israeli civilian guard was killed and 25 Palestinians were injured in new fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat got calls Wednesday from U.S. President George W. Bush urging them both to bring a halt to the violence and implement the recommendations made by the Mitchell committee. (More on the report.)

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Bush's message in the calls was that the Mitchell committee report "gives all parties an opportunity to seize the opportunity to emerge from the violence, to end the violence."

Fleischer said the United States is prepared to do its part to help but first there needs to be evidence of a "willingness by the parties themselves to end the violence."

ON THE SCENE No implementation of recommendations in Middle East  VIDEO Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he supports a cease-fire if there is 'an end to the terror' (May 22) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, calls on Israel to accept the report 'as a whole' (May 21) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Powell is sending a team of diplomats in response to the latest Mideast report. CNN's David Ensor has more (May 21) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.    CNN ACCESS Peres: 'Our enemies are not the Palestinians' Erakat: Mitchell report can provide a way out Mitchell: No such thing 'as conflict that can't be ended'

U.S. officials said both leaders agreed the Mitchell report could serve as a framework for trying to end the violence, but U.S. officials said the true test would be whether they were willing to take steps to bring about a cease-fire.

Tuesday evening, Israeli declared a unilateral cease-fire and ordered its troops not to fire except in life-threatening situations.

Palestinians dismissed the move as a "maneuver" and rejected it.

The Israel Defense Forces said after a relatively quiet night that one Israeli civilian guard was critically wounded and one lightly wounded by shots fired at them at a construction site at a junction near Ariel in the West Bank. Hospital officials said later that the more seriously wounded guard had died.

The IDF said that when its forces arrived, they came under fire and returned fire.

In a second incident, the IDF said Palestinian gunmen had "fired continuously" at an IDF force on the Israeli-Egyptian border in southern Gaza at Rafah.

Palestinian sources said 25 Palestinians were injured in that incident, two of them children.

The IDF said at least four anti-tank grenades were fired at the force. Israeli troops returned fire. There were no injuries to Israeli soldiers, the IDF said.

Earlier, Palestinian officials charged that Israeli forces had staged incursions, crossing into Palestinian-controlled territory in three places.

At one site, a grove of olive trees was bulldozed, the Palestinians said.

The IDF denied making any incursions, saying its troops were conducting "sensing work" along the borders between Israel and the Palestinian territories. They said Israeli troops were sent in to protect those operations from "existing threats."

Later in the day, shots were fired from Beit Jallah on the West Bank toward Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem. One person was injured, Israeli authorities said.

The authorities said one bullet fired from Beit Jallah hit an apartment building in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Malha. No one was hurt there.

Palestinians consider Gilo occupied land that belongs to the nearby Arab town of Beit Jallah.

On Tuesday evening, Sharon said Israel accepts the report prepared by a committee led by U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. He called for the Palestinians to stop firing and promised that Israel would do the same.

Later, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered the IDF "to cease fire and to follow the regulations of opening fire which are operative in life-threatening situations only."

A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday that Sharon's call for a cease-fire was only a maneuver, which the Palestinians reject.

"I think it's only a maneuver as a result of the Israeli isolation in the world arena," Ahmed Abdel Rahman said. "Israel is under heavy criticism because of excessive use of force against the Palestinian people -- especially air raids on Palestinian cities, and using Apache and F-16s against our people. So it's only a maneuver. We reject this maneuver.

"We said we accept the Mitchell report -- we accept it and we need to implement it completely."

Rahman said Sharon "sabotaged" the Mitchell report by refusing to freeze Jewish settlement activity.

"He sabotaged the Mitchell report instead of accepting it when he said that he will continue building settlements," said Rahman. "So what does the Mitchell report mean? Sharon wants to continue building settlements; therefore there will be no peace. Therefore if the occupation continues and the Israel army continues raiding Palestinian cities and people. So what does it mean when he accepts Mitchell report?"

Another Palestinian official called the cease-fire declaration a "trick," but Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said if it is a trick, "I invite the Palestinians to use the same trick."

The Mitchell committee was appointed after a summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to look into the causes of the last eight months of violence. It issued its report Monday calling for a halt to the violence, a cooling-off period, confidence-building measures and a timetable for return to renewed negotiations.

Among its recommendations was a call for the Palestinians to crack down on terror and to arrest terrorists in its territories, and for Israel to halt all settlement activity, including what the Israelis call "natural growth" of the settlements.