Israeli jets fire rockets in attack south of Beirut

Israeli jets fired rockets just south of Beirut yesterday and the pro-Iranian Hizbullah militia said it exploded a roadside bomb…

Israeli jets fired rockets just south of Beirut yesterday and the pro-Iranian Hizbullah militia said it exploded a roadside bomb in the latest fighting in Lebanon. In Bethlehem, Israeli troops and Palestinian youths clashed as the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, called for an Arab summit to discuss the collapsing peace process.

Witnesses in the town of Na'ameh, 15 km south of Beirut, said two Israeli aircraft fired four rockets at suspected positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

The PFLP-GC refuses any peace negotiations with Israel.

In Jerusalem, an army spokesman said: "Israeli air force planes attacked terrorist targets at Na'ameh, south of Beirut. Pilots reported accurate hits. All planes returned safely to base."

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Earlier, South Lebanon Army militia sources said one of its men was wounded in a bomb blast in Israel's south Lebanon occupation zone.

In Cairo, President Arafat called for an urgent Arab summit after talks with the Egyptian President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, underlining concerns over the fate of the peace process. The summit must discuss the future of Jerusalem, he told reporters, referring to one of the region's most volatile issues.

In Tokyo, the visiting Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, ran into criticism from Japanese officials for his three-week closure of the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu gave no sign of when the ban might be lifted.

An Arafat aide said the PLO had told groups opposed to its peace deals to stop attacks on Israel.