Palestinian gunned down in Israeli camp attack

Israeli troops today killed an armed Palestinian as he tried to flee and blew up two houses of suspected militants in a nearby West Bank village, the military said.

It was the second West Bank raid in as many days after a relative lull. Israeli troops killed three

Hamas fugitives and a 9-year-old boy in the town of Ramallah yesterday, and also blew up an apartment building, leaving 60 people homeless.

Palestinians warned the renewed military operations could torpedo attempts by the Palestinian Authority to persuade militants to halt attacks on Israelis.

Early today, some 25 jeeps and armoured personnel carriers entered the West Bank town of Jenin and soldiers searched houses for militants, witnesses said.

Gun battles erupted, and residents said they later found the body of Amjad Saadi, a militant from the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, an armed group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. Two civilians were wounded.

In the nearby village of Silat Al Harthiya, troops destroyed two homes of members of the Islamic Jihad group and arrested three Palestinians, the army said.

The latest violence came a day after the launch of the Geneva Accord, a symbolic peace agreement negotiated by Israeli opposition figures and prominent Palestinians, including Cabinet ministers and legislators.

The authors’ intention was to show both that peace was still possible and to exert pressure on the two governments to renew negotiations.

In a message to the gathering, Arafat praised the agreement as “a brave initiative that opens the door to peace”.