JERUSALEM — Scattered violence flared Friday in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, injuring more than two dozen Palestinians and leaving open the question of when the weeklong test period for a cease-fire can begin.
In the West Bank town of El-Khader, Palestinians detonated a bomb on a road as Israeli soldiers were passing on foot, but nobody was hurt, the Israeli army said. At Tulkarem in the West Bank, Palestinians fired on a passing Israeli car. A Palestinian policeman was injured in the arm and leg in the ensuing exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers.
About 700 Palestinians marched to an Israeli checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah and threw stones at the seven Israeli soldiers there, who responded with tear gas and gunfire. One Palestinian was taken to the hospital with a bullet wound in his hand. Others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
About 500 Palestinians demonstrated in Hebron, throwing eight firebombs at soldiers guarding the Jewish settlers who live in the downtown area. One Israeli border policeman and three Palestinians were injured.
Palestinians fired a mortar shell at the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said, and Palestinians threw five hand grenades at an Israeli army post near the Egyptian border. No one was hurt.
Five Palestinians were injured at Khan Yunes in the southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinians said the five were injured by an Israeli tank shell; the Israeli army denied having fired any.
The Israeli army said the body of an Egyptian policeman was found Friday morning but that it was on the Israeli side of the border near Nitzana, about 30 miles southeast of the Gaza Strip.
Violence also erupted at the Israeli-Lebanese border, where Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least a dozen anti-tank missiles Friday toward two Israeli army outposts in disputed territory. The Israelis returned artillery fire. There was no report of casualties on either side.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Friday he was willing to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres if the Israeli foreign minister took the first step.
"If he asks, I'm ready," Arafat said after talks with Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama in Lisbon.
The Israeli-Palestinian truce was negotiated by CIA director George Tenet and was to have gone into effect June 13. However, seven Israelis and eight Palestinians have been killed since then.
Israel charges that Palestinian gunmen are persistently targeting Israeli motorists. The Palestinians say Israel troops continue to use excessive force against Palestinian civilians.
After talks with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said both had agreed on a time line toward resuming peace talks.
He said seven days without violence would lead to a six-week cooling-off period, prescribed by an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. The cooling-off period is to be followed by confidence-building measures, including a construction freeze in Jewish settlements.
Palestinians said the seven-day period started Thursday evening. At the end of the test period, Powell "promised to give a time line" for implementing the Mitchell recommendations, Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.
Dore Gold, a Sharon adviser, did not say whether Israel also considered the test period had started. However, he said the clock would be reset if there was violence.
Israel would be the judge of whether violence has stopped, he said, adding that "We cannot accept a situation where violence simmers."