Israel kills militant and rejects Arafat ceasefire proposal

ISRAELI troops killed an Islamic militant who tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday after it rejected a conditional ceasefire proposal by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Islamic Jihad, one of several militant groups Washington has sought to curb with a road map to Palestinian statehood, claimed the gunman shot dead at Dugit settlement as its own.

Raising prospects for relieving the diplomatic impasse, a Palestinian paper said Israel could free 215 Palestinian security detainees next week as part of a prisoner-swap deal with Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah. Senior Israeli sources declined comment on the report in Al-Quds daily but confirmed the release of Palestinian detainees was part of accelerating negotiations underway for the return of four Israelis held by Hizbollah since 2000.