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Sharon heads for Washington
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ISREALI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon heads for Washington on Sunday to meet US President George W Bush for the first time since both took office, leaving behind a volatile situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Sharon is also due to meet senior defence officials, US Jewish and congressional leaders and visit the United Nations as Palestinians' feelings run high over Israeli restrictions on their movement after almost six months of an uprising.
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza on March 17 to demand an end to Israeli blockades of Palestinian areas, scornful of Israeli promises to relax controls the Jewish state says are necessary for its security.
Palestinian hospital officials said that Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinians in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip.
Witnesses reported heavy late-night exchanges of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians to the north of the West Bank town of Hebron, close to the West Bank settlement of Tapuach and near Neve Dekalim and Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip.
Europe and the United States have put pressure on Israel to relax the closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which have made it impossible for thousands of Palestinians to commute to jobs in Israel and restricted residents' movements with checkpoints and fortifications.
Palestinians reject the blockades as a “collective punishment” and see promises to ease them as a cosmetic gesture.
Israel Radio on Saturday quoted sources in Sharon's office as saying he had warned Arafat in a message conveyed through various channels that renewed violence would lead Israel to cancel the measures taken to ease the blockade.
At least 347 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in last September.
(SD-Agencies)
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