A man was shot dead on Monday morning near the Palestinian village of Bidya in the West Bank, reported AFP, quoting police.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting, which occurred in an area some 20 kilometers west of the Jewish settlement of Ariel, were not immediately clear.
Israeli public radio said the victim, who was apparently in his car at the time of the attack, was an Arab Israeli.
Israeli security forces have opened an investigation into the incident and launched a search of the area.
The attack occurred after four days of bloody Israeli-Palestinian clashes that have claimed the lives of 36 people, said AFP.
Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets on dozens of stone-throwing Palestinian in Hebron in the southern West Bank on Monday, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries from the clashes
Clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli soldiers were reported throughout the night in parts of the West Bank and Gaza after a day of fierce battles. Tense calm prevailed in Palestinian towns this morning as a call for a general strike went into effect.
The White House said last night that Israeli and Palestinian leaders had agreed to support a US-led, three-party inquiry into the outbreak, Reuters reported.
Clinton spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak late on Saturday and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday, US National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said in announcing the all-out US effort.
AGREEMENT OF LEADERS
“Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat agreed that as soon as conditions permit, the US will chair a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian security officials for the purpose of fact-finding and to prevent a recurrence of the past few days,” he said, according to Reuters.
He said the meeting of security officials of the three countries would be “in the region” and would follow separate inquiries by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The aim was “to understand what went wrong and see how both parties can insure that the Palestinian and Israeli people not relive the terrible events of the last few days,” he said as quoted by Reuters.
ALBRIGHT, BERGER, OTHERS AT WORK
Secretary of State Madeline Albright, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and other top officials have been engaged in urgent diplomacy, Reuters said.
“This has been a full-court press to work with both sides to urge them to bring the violence to an end,” Crowley said, using a basketball metaphor.
Speaking with Barak and Arafat, Clinton expressed “his deep concern about the escalation of violence” and conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims, Crowley said - (Several Sources)
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