According to Fox News:
It was some of the bloodiest fighting yet in the nine weeks of sporadic battles that have taken the lives of more than 300, mostly Palestinians.
On Monday, Palestinians fighters attacked the shrine, burial site of the biblical matriarch, after they said Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers had initiated pre-dawn attacks on Muslim worshippers.
Armed Palestinians came at the shrine from three sides in an effort to take it over, and for hours the gun battle ensued, with soldiers who defended the site injuring a dozen Palestinians.
In an effort to quell the attackers, Israeli helicopters fired two rockets at the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem.
At one point, Arafat was observed brandishing a holstered German-made machine pistol in his left hand, saying it was because Jewish settlers had blocked Gaza's main north-south thoroughfare, along which he travels to reach Gaza City.
He accused Israel of breaking an Israeli-Palestinian agreement to "cool down the situation."
It was the first time Arafat has been seen publicly carrying a weapon since returning to the Palestinian areas in 1994.
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