Israeli dies in renewed West Bank violence

An Israeli has been killed and five Palestinians wounded in renewed violence in the West Bank.

The violence has prompted an appeal to Israel from outgoing US ambassador Martin Indyk not to give up on peace with the Palestinians.

In Hebron, a fierce gun battle lasted into the early hours after one Israeli was killed and another wounded in a Palestinian attack. Witnesses said Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian buildings, setting one on fire.

It was the heaviest outburst in Hebron since a US-sponsored truce took effect a month ago.

Israeli troops briefly entered the Palestinian-controlled part of the divided town and destroyed a police post, Palestinian security officials said.

Two police and three other Palestinians were wounded. Hebron was blacked out by an electric power cut.

Mr Indyk said Mr Arafat is not doing enough to stop violence, but he urged his audience not to listen to Israelis calling for Arafat's overthrow, warning that he would be replaced by radicals from the militant Islamic Hamas or the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"It is possible to get him to stop the violence," Mr Indyk told an audience at Tel Aviv University, a day before his planned departure.

"It requires a combination of Israeli restraint, international pressure led by the United States, the threat of terrible consequences if he doesn't and the promise of a credible political process to redress Palestinian concerns if he does."

Mr Indyk, appointed ambassador to Israel twice by ex-US President Bill Clinton, has been a key player in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.