ARAB AFFAIRS - May 23 - Violence.

The Palestinians fire at least 4 mortar rounds and 12 grenades at Israeli targets in Gaza, and in the West Bank ignite a roadside bomb and stage a drive-by shooting, in addition to the ambush by 3 Palestinians that kills the Israeli contractor and injures a security guard. The Palestinians also fire on a Jewish neighbourhood on Jerusalem's southern fringe, hitting an 82-year-old Israeli man, and on an upscale area near the Jerusalem Mall. Bush telephones PM Sharon and Arafat to urge them to contain the conflict, which threatens to destabilise the region. The Associated Press, citing Palestinian doctors, reports 24 Palestinians, including 9 children younger than 14, were wounded in a fierce fight near the Rafah refugee camp near the Gaza-Egypt border. Two adults are in serious condition after the gun battle, which lasted at least two hours. Palestinians said the battle had been provoked by a threatened or actual Israel incursion into PA territory. In another development, Israeli security officials say they learned of an extensive network of workshops manufacturing long-range 120mm aluminium mortars spread around the Gaza Strip and directed by the PA police chief Ghazi Jabali. The officials say they arrested a Palestinian owner of a factory, Saadi Ashi. Ashi said he had been asked to make 10,000 mortar shells.