Palestinian teen killed trying to stop bombing
Thousands of Islamic Jihad supporters also gathered in the territory for the funerals of two members of the group killed in an Israeli air strike.
Hassan al-Zaanin, 18, was killed yesterday morning in the territory's northern area of Beit Hanun as worried locals confronted militants planting a roadside bomb aimed at Israeli troops, witnesses and security sources said. Witnesses said Zaanin was killed by Palestinian fire.
"Several residents asked the gunmen not to plant the explosive next to their fields and they refused," one witness said. "The gunmen first fired in the air and then in the direction of the protesters, wounding several of them," he said in an account corroborated by several others.
The witnesses said Israeli troops in the area then opened fire at the gunmen, but there was no exchange of fire. Palestinian security sources claimed Israeli troops killed the teenager when they opened fire on both the gunmen and the residents.
The residents apparently feared the roadside bombing would spark another deadly raid into the re-occupied area. Israeli troops took over Beit Hanun late last month after a rocket attack killed two people in southern Israel, just across the border.
Israel has vowed to stop militants from using Beit Hanun as a launchpad for firing rockets and bulldozed fields where attackers hide.
In Shijahieh, an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City, some 2,000 Islamic Jihad supporters staged an angry funeral for two militants killed in an Israeli helicopter raid in Gaza late on Thursday. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the target of the strike was Hazem Arhim, a 27-year-old senior member of the group's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.
Arhim walked through the streets of Gaza City in May with what he said were the remains of six Israeli soldiers killed in a roadside bombing.
The other slain militant was identified as Rauf Abu Asi.
Also late Thursday night, several thousand people flanked by masked gunmen took to Gaza City's streets to protest against Mr Arafat's appointment of his cousin Musa as the territory's security chief.
"Try the symbols of corruption before the people tries them," chanted the angry demonstrators who turned out in response to a call from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a section of Mr Arafat's own Fatah movement.
The Brigades, loosely affiliated with Fatah, have led violent protests against the alleged corruption of Palestinian officials and Mr Arafat's subsequent nepotistic revamping of his sprawling security services.
A string of protests at the authority's alleged corruption have forced the ageing leader to grudgingly cut the sprawling Palestinian security services to three groups from eight.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei also manifested his concern at the breakdown of order by handing his resignation to Mr Arafat last week.
Mr Arafat has been confined to his West Bank Ramallah headquarters by the army since December 2001 as Israel deems he is an "absolute obstacle to peace".
The Palestinian leadership said after a meeting presided over by Mr Arafat yesterday that it would crack down on agitators and that "law and order must prevail".
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