An Israeli force operating in the Ramallah area in the early hours of Thursday morning, killed a member of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard unit.
Israeli tanks drove to Beitunia, a suburb of Ramallah, before dawn and surrounded an apartment building there.
The Israeli troops killed Ahmed Ghanam, 25 and arrested a tenant in the building, Palestinian officials said. Troops withdrew at daybreak from Beitunia.
Late Wednesday, a civilian was shot dead in Dir el Balah, Gaza Strip. Mohsen al-Atrash, 23, was unarmed when he was killed by a tank shell near the central Gaza Strip Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, the source told AFP.
An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers had opened fire after a mortar round fired by Palestinians struck near the settlement without causing any damage.
The Israeli army arrested a total of 21 Palestinians Thursday in operations throughout the West Bank.
Palestinians reported that Israeli forces had left the West Bank village of Taluza, north of Nablus, after arresting 17 activists, including several senior Hamas members in an operation that began in the early hours of Thursday.
Meanwhile, according to AFP, UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said that the world body could take over security in the Palestinian Authority if Yasser Arafat's own forces were unable to fulfill the role.
"It is a fact that the PA has failed in its duty to control terrorism and we have criticized that over and over again," Roed-Larsen said. "That void will have to be filled and probably it is the UN who are in the best position to fill it in," he said. "If it continues to deteriorate, something has to be done."
Roed-Larsen insisted there was no plan to put the Palestinian territories under UN control, calling Arafat the "democratically elected Palestinian leader." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
