JERUSALEM — Palestinian gunmen shot and killed a 2-year-old Jewish girl and seriously wounded her father Monday in what the Israeli army said was an attack on a Jewish playground in the bitterly divided West Bank city of Hebron.
The shooting sparked a heavy exchange of fire between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops in Hebron, the army added. The city is a chronic flashpoint for violence, where about 500 Jewish settlers live in small enclaves, surrounded by 130,000 Palestinians.
The army described the shooting as a planned attack but offered few additional details. Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Jewish settlers in Hebron, identified the girl as Shalhevet Tass, and said she was shot in the head. Her father, Yitzhak Tass, was also hit, and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital, he added.
"This is not an accident. It wasn't widespread gunfire. This is a sniper who shot," Arnon said. "We demand that all this territory be recaptured and the terrorists be wiped out. There is no other solution. The head of the snake must be crushed."
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in the abdomen and seriously wounded in the Gaza Strip near the Karni border crossing with Israel, hospital doctors reported. Also, stone-throwing Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Jericho, but no injuries were reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he would retaliate harshly for attacks against Israeli civilians but has not done so yet. However, the killing of the little girl was certain to put pressure on Sharon to act.
Earlier Monday, Sharon told a U.S.-led commission investigating Mideast violence that full blame should be placed on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the past six months of unrest.
But Palestinians said Sharon's visit to a disputed Jerusalem holy site last September was the spark for the current fighting and that he should bear responsibility for the conflict.
As the commission, led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, wrapped up its work in the region and headed home to write its report, scattered violence persisted Monday.
The commission, appointed last fall by former President Clinton, has been meeting with a wide range of Israelis and Palestinians, gathering information on the worst outbreak of fighting since the two sides launched peace negotiations in 1993.
Sharon called the commission "a historic mistake because no one has the right, no one, to put Israel on a world trial." Nonetheless, Sharon said he had no choice but to meet Sunday with the commission, which was established before he took office earlier this month.
"The full responsibility for the outbreak of violence and its persistence rests on Arafat," Sharon told the commission. "We know for sure that the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, including the presidential guard, Force 17, are directly involved in the recent terror activities."
But the Palestinians told members of the commission that they thought the report, expected in about a month, would ultimately blame Sharon.
"We all know that Sharon was the reason for the explosion of the situation in the Palestinian territories," Erekat told reporters.
Mitchell, who also met Sunday with Israeli President Moshe Katsav, said his commission was "not a tribunal and we do not believe that anyone is on trial."
"We'll do the best we can to complete our task fairly and impartially," Mitchell said. The commission's findings will not be binding on either side.
Both sides have cooperated with the commission, though neither side is pleased with its mandate.
For the Palestinians, the commission does not go far enough. The Palestinians are pushing for greater international involvement, including a U.N. peacekeeping mission. The Israelis, meanwhile, are opposed to an international inquiry and staunchly reject any proposed U.N. peacekeepers.
In six months of fighting, 434 people have been killed, including 356 Palestinians, 59 Israeli Jews and 19 others.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres urged Arab leaders convening in Jordan to take a balanced approach to the Mideast conflict, and not merely issue a blanket denunciation of Israel, as has happened at previous Arab summits.
"I would like to see the Arab Summit not remain one-sided rhetorically but refer to peace in pragmatic terms," Peres said of the gathering, which begins Tuesday in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Peres also said six Israeli journalists had been barred from entering Jordan to cover the summit, and called on Jordanian authorities to allow in the Israeli media.