Baby jewish girl shot in head

A Palestinian gunman has killed a two-year-old Jewish girl in an attack at a playground in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The girl, Shalhevet Tass, was shot in the head and her father, Yitzhak, was also wounded.

The killing is sure to heighten tensions in Hebron, where about 500 Jewish settlers live in small enclaves, surrounded by 130,000 Palestinians.

Noam Arnon, a spokesman for the Jewish settlers in Hebron, said: "This is not an accident. It wasn't widespread gunfire. This is a sniper who shot a one-year-old girl.

"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."

A helicopter was called to evacuate the father and daughter, he added.

Israeli authorities had no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a US-led commission investigating Middle East violence that the 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 he should bear responsibility for the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres urged Arab leaders convening in Jordan to take a balanced approach to the Middle East conflict, and not merely issue a blanket denunciation of Israel, as has happened at previous Arab summits.