Arafat: Israel violated cease-fire

Palestinian men place flowers on the wreck of a car in which three Palestinian men were killed

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has accused Israel of violating the cease-fire with a helicopter gun attack that killed three men.

"This was a flagrant violation of the cease-fire. It is an ugly crime against our citizens," said Arafat.

Five Palestinian deaths occurred at the hands of Israeli security forces over the weekend.

One Israeli civilian was shot and killed near the border of Israel and the West Bank on Monday around 4:30p.m., Israel Radio reported.

The victim was in a car north of Tulkarem, when someone fired at the vehicle, according to the report.

No one has claimed responsibility for the shooting.

VIDEO The latest violence comes as leaders attempt to start a proposed 7-day test period of calm. CNN's Mike Hanna reports (July 2) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   AUDIO CNN's Mike Hanna: 'Two blasts in 10 minutes' 586KB / 54 secs AIFF or WAV sound   MORE STORIES U.S. tells Arafat to do more to stop violence     EXTRA INFORMATION Mideast struggle for peace

Among the three Palestinians killed in Sunday's helicopter attack in the West Bank was Mohammed Besharat, an Islamic militant on Israel's most-wanted list.

"The international parties should move to condemn these ugly crimes against humanity, against the Palestinian people," Arafat said.

The Palestinian leader on Monday met with the United Nations' Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, who afterwards expressed fears for the cease-fire.

"The situation is very difficult. The last events of the last couple of days show how fragile the cease-fire is. All indications are now it will not hold," Roed-Larsen was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He appealed for restraint: "We have very few days again, I think, if these incidents continue to happen. It will mean that the ceasefire will not hold and we will face a new crisis."

The U.S.-brokered cease-fire, which took effect on June 13 was an attempt to kickstart the peace measures outlined by the international Mitchell commission.

But early Monday morning two car bombs exploded in the central Israeli town of Yehud -- although no one was seriously hurt.

CNN's Mike Hanna said a radical Palestinian group had claimed responsibility for the blasts -- which occurred minutes apart -- but this has yet to be confirmed.

Prior to the helicopter attack on Sunday, two Palestinians were killed in a shootout with Israeli forces in nearby Jenin.

The Israel Defense Forces said that the Palestinians opened fire on the soldiers when they approached them on the road leading to two Israeli settlements.

The IDF said explosives were found with the bodies of the two men and that it believed the two were attempting to plant these on the road.

Meanwhile to the north, Israeli warplanes struck two Syrian radar positions in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Sunday, injuring at least two Syrian soldiers and a Lebanese conscript.

The Israeli army said the strike was in response to the injury of two Israeli soldiers Friday mortar attack near the Shebaa Farms area which it blames on the militant group Hezbollah.

Israeli police said at least four people were treated for shock after Monday's car bombs in Yehud

Israel believes that Hezbollah activities are carried out with the support of the Syrians, who have armed forces stationed in Lebanon -- many in Bekaa Valley.

An editorial in Al-Baath, Syria's ruling Baath party's newspaper, on Monday accused Israel of "pushing the region to war, believing that war might rid it of its suffocating crises," the Associated Press reported.

But the IDF warned in a statement on Sunday that it would respond with "all available means" to Hezbollah attacks to protect Israeli civilians and soldiers on the northern border.

Hezbollah has vowed to continue its fight until Israel withdraws its troops from Shebaa Farms, claiming Israel's military withdrawal from southern Lebanon last May was incomplete without the return of Shebaa.

The United Nations rejects this claim, asserting that Shebaa is Syrian territory and therefore a matter for the Israelis and the Syrians, not the Lebanese.