Palestinian militants today killed an Israeli hitchhiker, the third Israeli to be killed in the past five days in a flare-up of violence that threatens a truce reached in February.

ARMED Palestinian militants shut down a government building in the West Bank yesterday.

West Bank militants demanded that Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef leave their town today, shooting rifles outside a government building to prove their point.

Palestinian militants beat and abducted the Palestinian governor of the West Bank town of Jenin as he drove through the city centre today, eyewitnesses and security sources said.