Two international observers killed in West Bank shooting

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Two observers from an international force in Hebron were shot and killed when Palestinians opened fire on their car in the West Bank on Tuesday, the Israeli military said.

The observers, serving in the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, were driving on a bypass road used mostly by Jewish settlers when their car came under fire near Halhoul, a West Bank town north of Hebron.

A Norwegian official in the West Bank said the two dead were Turkish and Swiss. There was no immediate comment from the peace force. The two were the first members of the force to be killed in the West Bank.

A third observer was slightly wounded, the military said.

The force, made up of unarmed observers from Scandinavian and European countries, was set up under a 1997 agreement dividing Hebron into Palestinian- and Israeli-controlled zones.

The city was divided because about 450 Israeli settlers live in three enclaves in the center of the city, among some 130,000 Palestinians. The observers, recognizable by their clearly marked white cars, make periodic reports about violations of the truce.

Settlers charge that the observers are biased against them, while Palestinians say that the settlers, among the most militant in the West Bank, constantly harass the local Palestinians.