ARABS-ISRAEL - Oct. 27 - Violence Again.

The West Bank (WB) and Gaza Strip (GS) are engulfed in violence during and after Friday prayers. With the Israeli troops having isolated the north of the GS from its southern part, 4 Palestinians die in the WB towns of Ramallah, Tulkarm and Qalquilia and at the Eretz checkpoint between the GS and Israel. Israel has turned Nablus, where 2,000 Hamas protesters chanted "We want to build a big bomb", into a prison - with Israeli troops stationed just outside it preventing free access into or out of the big WB town. In GS's Jebaliya refugee camp, 10,000 Hamas supporters attended a rally led by dozens of masked "Martyrs Of Al Qassam" (reference to the founder of the Muslim militants of the 1930s). PA officials warned that blockades imposed by Israel would only increase the violence unless Barak pulled back tanks and troops immediately. Israel said it would not do so until the fighting stopped. By now the death toll since Sept.28 has reached more than 135.