GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Two Palestinians were killed in new violence today in Gaza, giving added urgency to a White House effort to curb the fighting. President Clinton is to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Washington on Thursday and with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak next Sunday. We get more from Rula Amin in Gaza.</s>RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Palestinians and Israelis try to firm up their truce agreement, this 16-year-old was killed. Palestinians say he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army says its soldiers had nothing to do with his death. For his mother, this was the concern, for God to smooth her son's way to heaven. Another Palestinian was shot dead at this flashpoint early in the afternoon. In the morning there were dozens of youths here playing a cat-and-mouse came with an Israeli army Jeep. Whenever the patrol approached this part of the road, demonstrators hailed it with stones and Molotov cocktails. The army responded with tear gas and rubber- coated steel bullets. Israel says if Yasser Arafat's police force would just keep the demonstrators away, there would be no clashes. Palestinian security forces say this is a Palestinian neighborhood. If the Israeli army didn't show up, the youths would have no one to throw stones at. The chief Palestinian security official in charge of coordinating with his Israeli counterpart accuses Israel of escalating the violence by using excessive force, which makes it difficult for him to control the demonstrators.</s>MAJ. GEN. MAJAYDEH, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE (through translator): I really cannot side with the Israelis and stand against my people as they are being shot at by Israel. It's impossible -- no way. I told them this and they understand it.</s>AMIN: Still, following a truce reached between the two sides a few days back, there are fewer demonstrators here than a week ago. And the clashes are less intense. But the fire here is still burning, making it easy for low-level clashes to turn deadly. Rula Amin, CNN, Gaza.
Crisis in the Middle East: Low-Level Clashes Still Turn Deadly