RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police fought gun battles in two West Bank cities yesterday, leaving at least four Palestinians dead and about 300 wounded in the worst outbreak of violence since the two sides signed a peace accord three years ago.
The firefights -whose toll is expected to grow - erupted in Ramallah and Bethlehem amid widespread demonstrations by Palestinians over Israel's completion of an archeological tunnel along Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims.
The Israeli government's decision to complete the ancient passage this week inflamed Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to assert its sovereignty over all of the disputed Holy City. Palestinians hope to claim the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Since the election in May of the hard-line government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinians have grown increasingly frustrated over what they perceive as Israeli foot-dragging on the peace process, combined with a newly aggressive policy of settlement on the West Bank. Palestinian leaders have warned for weeks that the tensions could explode into an uprising reminiscent of the six-year intifada against the Israeli occupation.
Speaking in Gaza yesterday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat blamed Israel for the day's violence, saying, "This is an escalation by the Israeli government against our people who are protesting a breach of the (peace) agreement."
The Palestinians postponed a meeting, scheduled for today, of Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators. Israel said the talks would be held Sunday.
Netanyahu placed an urgent telephone call to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to ask for help in defusing the situation and said that he would be willing to meet again with Arafat in to try to restore calm.
But the Israeli prime minister also defended his decision to let workers complete the controversial tunnel, which the Israelis have said would increase tourism and trade in the Holy City. Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders of inciting yesterday's demonstrations and subsequent violence.
At the United Nations, where he is meeting foreign leaders, Secretary of State Warren Christopher expressed "deep concern" about the violence and said he telephoned both Netanyahu and Arafat.
"We have urged the parties to defuse the situation and restore calm in the area," he said.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns had chided the Netanyahu government for complicating the peace process by opening the tunnel, saying: "We believe the parties to the (Israel-Palestinian peace) agreement should avoid raising new issues that will complicate negotiations and complicate the peace process. Both sides need to be very careful about creating new issues that will inflame violence."
Although Burns refused to sharpen his criticism of Israel, he made it clear that the tunnel was the sort of "new issue" that Washington wants the Israelis and Palestinians to avoid. "They have both got to get back to the negotiating table," Burns said.
The demonstrations broke out throughout Palestinian-controlled areas Wednesday, including Hebron, Nablus and Gaza City. In Jerusalem, rock- and bottle-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli police along the main shopping street of east Jerusalem, and, later, in Palestinian villages on the city's northern outskirts.
In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian police exchanged gunfire after protesters burned tires and telephone poles and tried repeatedly to set ablaze an Israeli army watchtower outside Rachel's Tomb, a site holy to Jews. About 70 Palestinians were reported wounded before calm was restored shortly before midnight.
About a dozen Israeli soldiers were reported injured.