Measures announced by Israel to ease its blockade in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip did nothing to scale down the level of unrest, as residents counted the cost of another day of violence.
Israeli troops shot dead one Palestinian man and wounded at least 14 in fresh clashes yesterday.
Late night gunfire exchanges erupted near the West Bank town of Tulkarm. Israeli Army Radio said its soldiers returned fire after Palestinian gunmen fired on an Israeli security post. There were no reports of injuries.
Tension over Israel's blockade of Palestinian areas flared less than 48 hours before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was due to head to Washington tomorrow to meet US President George Bush for the first time since both took office.
An official Syrian spokesman said Mr Bush had meanwhile phoned Syrian President Bashar alAssad to say he was ready to help achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
It was the first phone conversation between the two leaders since the start of the Bush administration in January.
Israel announced new steps to relax the clampdown it has imposed for what it calls security reasons to prevent guerrilla attacks on its citizens.
But Palestinians, who call the closure a collective punishment that strangles their economy, rejected Israel's announcement as superficial.
Demonstrators in the West Bank and Gaza earlier heeded a call by Palestinian groups to maintain pressure on Israel to relax measures imposed after Palestinians began an uprising against Israeli occupation of the territories in September.
Palestinian sources said Israeli troops shot and wounded five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in an area where there were no clashes. The army said it knew of only one Palestinian hurt during a stone-throwing demonstration.