Seven Palestinians killed by Israeli army gunfire

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli troops chasing militants in the West Bank surrounded homes, a hospital and a downtown square Thursday, killing five armed Palestinians and two bystanders, while soldiers reoccupied Bethlehem after withdrawing over Christmas.

The military activity reflected Israel's strategy of seizing the initiative in its conflict with the Palestinians instead of reacting to Palestinian attacks.

But the largest Palestinian death toll in weeks also raised concerns of new efforts by Palestinian militants -- who have not staged a major terrorist attack in almost a month -- to retaliate.

An escalation of the 27-month conflict could also have an impact on Israel's Jan. 28 election. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud is ahead in the polls, but his advantage has been slipping because of a police investigation of alleged vote-buying in recent internal party elections.

In Bethlehem, Israeli forces imposed a curfew again, confining residents to their homes until further notice. The curfews are usually enforced around-the-clocks except for periodic breaks of a few hours to allow people to buy food. On Christmas Eve, the Israelis had pulled back from the center of town.

On Thursday, Israeli jeeps drove back through the town, residents said. Soldiers with loudspeakers declared the curfew and threw tear gas canisters at people celebrating the Christmas holidays, forcing them indoors. The Israeli military said the curfew was brought back for security reasons.

Israel's latest occupation of Bethlehem came after a Palestinian suicide bomber from the town blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem on Nov. 21, killing 11 passengers. Israel says it has warnings of other militants planning attacks originating in Bethlehem.

In clashes Thursday, Israeli soldiers killed five armed Palestinian fugitives and two bystanders -- a teenager and a traffic policeman.

In Ramallah, soldiers surrounded a hospital and fired at the guard room, killing an armed guard and arresting three others, Ramallah governor Mustafa Issa said. The military said soldiers shot a wanted Palestinian who tried to escape.

Also in Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has his headquarters, soldiers in plain clothes tried to arrest a wanted Palestinian, but he ran, so soldiers shot and killed him, the military said. Then Palestinians threw rocks at the soldiers, who opened fire, killing a 19-year-old traffic policeman, Palestinians said.

In Tulkarem, Israeli soldiers killed a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement. The military said he tried to escape.

In the northern West Bank town of Kabatiya, soldiers surrounded the house of Hamza Abu Roub, a local leader of the militant Islamic Jihad, demanding that he surrender. He sent out his wife and children and opened fire on the soldiers, who shot and killed him, then blew up the house. Four soldiers were wounded.

In Nablus, soldiers searching for a fugitive killed a Palestinian gunman in an exchange of fire, the military said. Later, after soldiers imposed a curfew, hundreds of Palestinians protested and threw rocks at soldiers, who opened fire, killing an 18-year-old and wounding 20 other people, Palestinians said. The military said Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at soldiers.

Meanwhile, in Cairo, the militant group Hamas rejected a proposal to restart talks with Fatah about stopping suicide bombing attacks against Israelis. Hamas has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks against Israelis.

Egypt has hosted talks between the two Palestinian factions and was trying to arrange another round, but the Hamas representative left Cairo, saying that focusing the talks on stopping suicide bombing attacks amounted to a precondition.

Hamas, which does not accept a Jewish state in the Middle East, has resisted efforts to declare an end to attacks. Although Arafat has denounced attacks on civilians, many Palestinians consider soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza as legitimate targets; Palestinians claim those areas for a state.

A senior Israeli official said Thursday that Israel is building 300-yard-wide buffer zones around some of the Jewish settlements.

The purpose is to make it harder for Palestinian attackers to infiltrate, said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon. "It's just to ensure that you have a forward defense deployment so you don't engage the terrorists inside the compound or inside the village," he said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the buffer zones are an attempt to expand settlements and sabotage a U.S.-backed peace plan which envisions Palestinian statehood by 2005.

"Sharon wants to make sure by 2005 that it will be impossible to create a Palestinian state because of the settlements," Erekat said.