Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in West Bank

Four Palestinians have been killed and at least 129 wounded by Israeli fire during unrest in the West Bank.

Marking Al Naqba, the bitter anniversary of their displacement in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered and threw stones at Israeli soldiers.

Among the four Palestinians killed was a bodyguard for Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The Israeli army said he was killed by a tank shell as he was firing a mortar round at Israeli targets.

Fierce fighting erupted near the towns of Ramallah, Nablus and Tulkarem.

At a roundabout near Ramallah, a regular flashpoint during eight months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, stone-throwers took cover behind overturned car wrecks as a steady stream of ambulances picked up protesters wounded by Israeli fire. Two Palestinians were killed in Ramallah and 17 were wounded.

Palestinian militiamen hiding in empty apartment buildings shot at Israeli soldiers and at one point two Israeli tanks rumbled into Palestinian-controlled territory to quell the shooting.

During the commemorations, a mournful three-minute siren rang across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some marchers chanted "no surrender" and others flashed victory signs - a message to Israel that they would not stop their uprising, now in its eighth month, until they won independence.

"Faith, faith, courage, courage, stand strong in the face of this increasing aggression, for the sake of freedom," Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in the taped speech broadcast over loudspeakers.

Mr Arafat had left earlier for Cairo, drawing Israeli criticism that he had slipped away to avoid being blamed for possible violence on Al Naqba day.