With Arafat Siege Lifted, Sharon Faces a New Storm
Mr. Arafat went back to business at his ruined headquarters today, receiving diplomats and demanding that Israel withdraw from Palestinian cities, in keeping with a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted last week. He said that Palestinian elections would proceed as planned in January, and his spokesman said that a new Palestinian cabinet would soon be named to replace the one that resigned this month.

There was fresh violence in the West Bank today, despite a call by Mr. Arafat on Sunday for a mutual cease-fire, an appeal dismissed as hollow by Israeli officials.

In clashes between soldiers and Palestinians defying a three-month-old curfew in Nablus, Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinian boys and gunmen killed a soldier.

Palestinians said Rami Barbari, 10, was fatally shot in the head by machine-gun fire from a tank near the Balata refugee camp when he was in a group of boys throwing stones. The army said warning shots were fired when a crowd hurled stones and firebombs at the tank.

Another boy, 10-year-old Mahmoud Zagloul, was pronounced clinically dead after being hit by Israeli gunfire during clashes near the Old City in Nablus, medical officials said. The army said soldiers had opened fire on two Palestinians who tried throw an explosive charge and a firebomb at the soldiers.

In a separate incident, Palestinian gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers in a downtown building, killing Sgt. Ari Weiss and seriously wounding another soldier, the army said. The shooting set off a heavy exchange of gunfire in which three shops were burned, Palestinians said.

Amnesty International released a report today that accused the Israeli Army and Palestinian armed groups of "utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians" in the last two years of violence.

The report said that 250 Palestinian children and 72 Israeli children had been been killed by the end of August and that both Israel and the Palestinians had failed to bring those responsible to justice.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/international/middleeast/01MIDE.html