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By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian rockets, gunmen and a suicide bomber drew Israeli blood Tuesday in a dizzying array of attacks that triggered a day of revenge strikes with no end in sight to violence spiraling rapidly out of control. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who told him Israel would "continue to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of its citizens," Sharon's office said in a statement. Israeli retaliation included a helicopter missile attack on a car near the West Bank city of Ramallah that targeted Palestinian ...

Three Israeli children were wounded when Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed near a house in the Negev development town of Sderot late Tuesday afternoon. A one-year-old baby was moderately wounded annd two other children suffered light injuries. Magen David Adom said that the three were being treated at Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva. Police said that two or three rockets landed in Sderot - one next to the home and another in an open field. They were searching for a third rocket. Five Israelis killed in morning of terror attacks Five Israelis were killed and 20 ...

PA TV: Helicopter Gunships Target Vehicle (IsraelNN.com) PA TV is airing footage of a vehicle in Ramallah reportedly hit a short time ago by missiles fired from IDF helicopter gunships. Unofficial PA sources report senior Hamas terrorists were in the vehicle. Explosions can be heard in the Ramallah area, lending credibility to the PA report of an aerial assault.

As Middle East violence spun out of control on Tuesday, the White House offered little sign it would use a visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step up its low-key mediation, saying it was up to Israelis and Palestinians to approve any outside initiatives. Apparently brushing aside global calls for greater U.S. involvement, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the priority was to end the violence and that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had to do more to crack down on Palestinian militants. The last few days have seen some of the worst violence in 17 months of a Palestinian ...

The United States responded with caution Monday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's offer to host a peace conference for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders as violence in the region spins further out of control. "His idea is an interesting one," Secretary of State Colin Powell said after a meeting with the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. "But of course it's up to the two individuals, Mr. Arafat and Mr. Sharon to decide which forums the would participate in." When Mubarak meets with President Bush Tuesday he is expected to offer formally to host peace talks ...

In back-to-back attacks early Tuesday, a Palestinian man opened fire on a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub, a suicide bomber blew himself up on an Israeli bus and gunmen ambushed Israeli motorists in the West Bank. In all, five Israelis and two Palestinian assailants were killed. Also Tuesday, a bomb went off in the yard of an Arab high school, lightly injuring seven students and a teacher. Israeli media said a previously unknown group, apparently consisting of Jewish extremists, claimed responsibility. The cycle of attacks and reprisals was one of the bloodiest in 17 months of fighting. Palestinian militants vowed to ...

Israel's Suicide The land-for-peace compromise will lead Israel only to self-destruction. With unremitting ferocity, Arab terrorists this weekend again attacked Israelis through suicide bombing and sniper fire—brutally killing 22. Despite such carnage, despite Yasser Arafat's hollow promises to quell such violence, despite his record of flouting the terms of previous peace deals—advocates of the "peace process" are undaunted. They continue to demand that Israel resolve this conflict by diplomatic negotiation rather than military force. Central to this process is a "land-for-peace" exchange, leading to a sovereign Palestinian state. Such a "trade," however, will lead Israel not to peace but to ...

<p>March 5, 2002 -- JERUSALEM - A rifle-toting Palestinian suicide attacker opened fire on a packed nightclub and a steakhouse in the heart of Tel Aviv early today, killing three Israelis and injuring more than 30 in a five-minute rampage of revenge.</p>

The suicide bombers who blow themselves up in Israel's population centers are the Palestinians' ultimate weapon. Many Palestinians, including some intellectuals, view the bombers as heroes. On the other hand, by conventional definition, and not just in the West, they are terrorists, because their sole purpose is to deliberately attack civilians, including women and children. The fact that the suicidal terrorists appeared long before the outbreak of the current military confrontation with the Palestinians is being ignored in the fruitless ongoing political debate in Israel, and also in the coverage of the phenomenon in the international press. During the period ...

<p>March 5, 2002 -- JERUSALEM - When the bullets started flying at the Seafood Market disco in Tel Aviv, shoe salesman William Hazan’s first instinct was to duck under a table.</p> <p>His second was to open his wife’s purse and grab a gun to confront the attacker - a move that probably saved many lives.</p>

<p>JERUSALEM (CNN) --Intense violence broke out in the Mideast on Tuesday, leaving five Israeli civilians dead and up to 10 Palestinian children injured in an explosion at a school in separate incidents.</p> <p>One Israeli was killed and 11 were injured when a suicide bomber, who also died, triggered an explosion on a bus as it approached the main station in Afula, close to the West Bank in northern central Israel, police said.</p>

BAGHDAD, March 5 (Reuters) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has criticised Arab peace plans for the Middle East and urged Arabs to support the Palestinian uprising against Israel, Iraqi newspapers reported on Tuesday. The newspapers quoted Saddam as saying that Arabs should not offer plans on behalf of the Palestinian people, in a clear reference to a Saudi peace plan. "Not one of us, not even Saddam Hussein, has the right to act on behalf of Palestine and its people," Saddam said during a meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Farouq Qadoumi and other Palestinian officials. "The Palestinian people do ...

JERUSALEM, Mar 05, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- In back-to-back attacks early Tuesday, a Palestinian man opened fire on a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub, a suicide bomber blew himself up on an Israeli bus and gunmen ambushed Israeli motorists in the West Bank. In all, five Israelis and two Palestinian assailants were killed. Also Tuesday, a bomb went off in the yard of an Arab high school, lightly injuring seven students and a teacher. Israeli media said a previously unknown group, apparently consisting of Jewish extremists, claimed responsibility. The cycle of attacks and reprisals was one of the ...

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) - A Palestinian gunman shot dead three Israelis in a Tel Aviv restaurant and a suicide bomber killed one person on a bus in northern Israel on Tuesday as Middle East violence threatened to spiral out of control. In a worsening cycle of tit-for-tat assaults, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian in a raid on a West Bank town and fired four missiles at a Palestinian security headquarters in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. No one was reported hurt. A Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli woman in a road ambush near in ...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopter gunships fired at least four missiles at the headquarters of the Palestinian National Security Forces in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said. There was no immediate word of casualties from the strike, the latest in a series of Israeli reprisal strikes and raids into Palestinian territory after a string of Palestinian bombing and shooting attacks. The army had no immediate comment. Palestinian witnesses said the missiles slammed into the compound in the center of Khan Younis city, which is also home to a crowded refugee camp. Ambulances ...

GAZA, Mar 04, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Israeli troops killed 19 Palestinians, including civilians, in the West Bank and Gaza during air and ground attacks Monday and Israeli F16s destroyed a Palestinian security installation in Bethlehem, Palestinian witnesses, medical and security sources said. The escalation in violence comes after Palestinian militants carried out a series of armed attacks over the weekend that killed at least 24 Israelis. On Monday, witnesses said an Israeli army tank fired a shell that targeted the car of a Hamas leader, Hussein Kuacke, at the al Amaari refugee camp near Ramallah ...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in the northern Israeli city of Afula Tuesday, killing one Israeli and wounding at least five, police said. The blast, which also killed the bomber, took place at the city's central bus station while it was filled with people during the morning rush hour. Israeli radio stations said most of the wounded were lightly injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Palestinian militant groups have killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks during a 17-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation. The blast followed a series of deadly ...

JERUSALEM, Mar 05, 2002 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday in a bus as it reached the main bus station in the central Israeli town of Afula, police said. Israel TV said five people were wounded.Dov Lutzky, a regional police commander, said the suicide bomber was on the bus as it reached the parking area of the Afula bus station. Earlier Tuesday, an attacker firing an M-16 rifle killed three people and wounded 31 in a Tel Aviv restaurant, hours after an Israeli raid killed the wife and three children of a ...

<p>PSAGOT, West Bank — The Israeli army has deployed female soldiers to West Bank Jewish settlements for the first time, provoking a backlash from religious settlers whom they have been sent to protect.</p> <p>The Palestinian intifada is stretching the army's resources at a time when many male reservists are refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some 280 officers and noncommissioned officers have signed a petition citing "conscience" for their refusal to serve in the occupied territories. It is also part of the army's efforts to give women a more active role.</p>

JERUSALEM, Mar 05, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- An explosion was heard Tuesday in the central bus station in the central Israeli town of Afula, police said. First reports said the blast was set off by a suicide bomber on a bus, and that there were numerous casualties.