From the Drudge Report, Telegraph...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003797238961714&rtmo=fsrVq3Ms&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/00/11/11/wmid11.html

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PALESTINIANS declared a "state of war" with Israel yesterday, a day after one of the leaders of their uprising was killed by rockets fired from a helicopter gunship.

Ehud Barak: 'We will hit those who hit us'
Israel was braced for retaliation. Ehud Barak, the Prime Minister, said: "We will hit those who hit us." The army shot dead four more Palestinians during another "day of rage" yesterday. This brought the number killed in six weeks of clashes to 200. Bethlehem and Ramallah were sealed off by troops after a soldier was shot and wounded in the neck.

Hussein Abayat, a Palestinian militia chief, was the first Palestinian official killed by Israel during the current crisis. Hussein al-Sheikh, one of the leaders of the movement headed by Yasser Arafat said: "We in Fatah consider ourselves in a state of war with Israel."

He said: "We believe that this phase of targeting the leadership of the Palestinian uprising frees our hands from any agreement struck in the past." He accused Israel of "state terrorism". Abayat, whom Israel accused of staging shooting attacks against Jews, was given a huge send-off at his funeral in Bethlehem, with dozens of armed Palestinian militiamen escorting his flag-draped body to the cemetery.

Mr Barak sought to lower expectations from his trip to Washington beginning this weekend to discuss the crisis with President Clinton. He said: "It is too far-fetched to predict now that the peace negotiations will resume."

10 November 2000: Israeli rocket kills Fatah militant

8 November 2000: Ulster peacemaker to head Middle East investigation
7 November 2000: West Bank claims two more lives
6 November 2000: Arafat agrees to more talks as killings go on
4 November 2000: Israeli tanks open fire after Barak's appeal for calm
3 November 2000: Jerusalem bomb kills daughter of religious leader
2 November 2000: Barak threatens Palestinians with 'tough response'
1 November 2000: US renews attempt to find Middle East peace
29 September 2000: Riot police clash with protesters at holy shrine