JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs prepared to square off on Sunday for another tense round of U.S.-brokered talks as violence on the ground showed no sign of easing.
The previous round of talks on Friday, aimed at ending nearly 15 months of bloodshed, almost degenerated into a brawl, a Palestinian official said.
``They were very difficult talks and the Israelis were trying to dictate and give us orders. There was almost a fist fight and we were shouting at each other,'' the Palestinian official told Reuters.
At least 751 Palestinians and 222 Israelis have died since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000. (Read photo caption below)
Israeli helicopter gunships struck a Palestinian government compound in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the latest retaliation by Israel for mortar attacks on Jewish settlements and a wave of Resistance bombings last weekend.
Israeli tanks and a bulldozer later demolished two Palestinian security positions not far from the target of the helicopter attack.
Palestinian officials reported late night gunfire south of the West Bank city of Nablus, near Rafah and west of Khan Younis in south Gaza where the Israeli army said it returned fire after Palestinians launched a mortar bomb toward a Jewish settlement.
A day earlier, Israeli F-16 warplanes bombed the Palestinian Authority's main police headquarters in Gaza City, wounding at least 18 people.
An Israeli official also described Friday's talks between Palestinian and Israeli security chiefs, overseen by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni at a government complex near Tel Aviv, as ''difficult.''
PHOTO CAPTION:
Palestinians gather around the bodies of Aied and Loay Masshal during their funeral in Deir Ghasana north of the West Bank City of Ramallah December 8, 2001. Israeli helicopter gunships struck a Palestinian government compound in the southern Gaza Strip. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)