Violence Endangers Mideast Truce

Voice of Palestine radio reported that Khalil Barrood, 25, was shot and killed, and 10 more Palestinians were injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli troops on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Tulkarim.

Clashes also erupted in the south of Gaza and in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Hebron. The Palestinians said Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and live ammunition at Palestinian demonstrators, wounding at least 50 in those confrontations.

Friday was a crucial test of the new truce agreement, and for a time both sides showed restraint. Hundreds of Israeli police were deployed to maintain the peace after the Muslim prayers, and Palestinian police stopped the militant Islamic Jihad from demonstrating at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza strip. The Islamic Jihad has claimed blame for a car bombing Thursday near the popular outdoor Mahaned Yehuda market in central Jerusalem. The blast killed two Israelis.

Tension was high in Jerusalem as some 5,000 Muslims prayed amid tight Israeli security at the mosques at Temple Mount, the city's main holy site, known to Arabs as Haram el Sharif. Police barred Palestinian men under the age of 45 from praying there for fear of renewed clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian youths, Israel radio reported.

At least 170 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed in violence throughout the occupied territories since the unrest broke out after Friday prayers in Jerusalem on Sept. 29. Violent protests frequently have followed the prayers since then. Thousands have been injured.

Voice of Palestine radio reported that hundreds of Palestinian mourners marched the streets of the divided West Bank town of Hebron after Friday prayers. A few Jewish settlers threw stones at the Palestinians in the town's public market, and three Palestinians were injured, including a 60-year-old blind man, the radio reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's security adviser, Danny Yatom, said the Palestinian Authority was trying to prevent violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers.

"Despite the shooting and the clashes, I know that there are attempts and intentions by the Palestinians to bring calm to the territories," Yatom said. "I am sure that in the coming hours and in the coming days we will see more effective attempts and we will see better results."

Thursday's car bombing happened as Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were preparing to make formal public statements announcing the truce agreement. They held off making the statements, but both sides said they still regarded the agreement as valid.

The Israeli cabinet late Thursday gave Palestinians 24 hours to implement their side of the agreement.

But Palestinian authority cabinet minister Nabil Shaath said, "The success of this understanding that had been reached is depending on the Israeli commitment to implement it by withdrawing its troops and tanks outside Palestinian towns and left the closures and the sieges."