Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in a West Bank town yesterday and in a separate incursion arrested 17 suspected militants -- as another dreary Christmas drew to a close in the Holy Land.
Despite the renewed friction, Israeli and Palestinian security commanders met for the first time in a week to try to shore up a tentative truce.
Palestinian officials said the two sides agreed on a number of steps to ease daily life in the Gaza Strip, including the rebuilding of the landing strip at Gaza International Airport that was destroyed by Israeli bulldozers earlier this month.
Also yesterday, the Israeli military lifted its blockade of the West Bank town of Jericho, permitting residents to enter and leave. Like other Palestinian communities, Jericho had been under closure for most of the 15 months of fighting.
Israel says the restrictions are necessary to prevent attacks by militants on Israelis. The Palestinians say the travel ban is a collective punishment.
Despite a sharp drop in tensions in recent days, a gunfight erupted yesterday on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Jenin.
Israel's government, meanwhile, continued to absorb criticism from abroad and at home for barring Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem.
Israel insists that Arafat remain in the West Bank town of Ramallah until he arrests the assassins of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.
Arafat's absence was the center of attention during an otherwise low-key holiday in tourist-starved Bethlehem and added another layer of gloom to the already depressed atmosphere.
Even the Midnight Mass and the morning service in St Catherine's Church, next to the ancient Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus, did not draw large crowds. Almost 15 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence has frightened tourists away and wrecked Bethlehem's tourism-based economy.
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