Militant's death likely to upset fragile truce

The killing could deepen the discord because Palestinian militants have conditioned halting violence on Israel ending its hunts for Palestinian wanted men.

Family members identified the dead man as Mohammed Abu Hazneh, 28, a member of the radical Islamic Jihad group.

Israeli security officials said the man was behind the recent Tel Aviv suicide bombing that killed five Israelis. They said he was part of a cell that had also built a car bomb the Israelis disarmed last week, and was planning further attacks.

Troops entered the village of Nazlat al-Wusta near the West Bank town of Jenin in the early hours of the morning, and surrounded Abu Hazneh’s house, the army said.

After calling on him to surrender several times, the troops sent in a dog to flush him out. The fugitive shot and killed the dog, then opened fire on troops. Soldiers threw grenades inside the building to try to get him to leave the building, and after that failed, razed the home, the army said.

Soldiers found the man’s body and a pistol in the rubble, the military said. Other members of the family left the house after soldiers called on Abu Hazneh to leave the building, the army said.

“We believe the Israelis have committed to stop violence against Palestinians anywhere. These actions are only adding fuel to fire,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.” Israel should let the Palestinian security forces do their job in these areas.”

An argument over the transfer of the quiet town of Jericho to Palestinian security control was already threatening to undermine the month-old truce.

Israel has refused to take down its roadblocks north and south of the ancient town, as the Palestinians have demanded.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz failed to settle the disagreement in talks on Tuesday, and two meetings of security commanders yesterday were no more successful.

The unexpected stalemate raised concerns the two sides would have trouble working out far thornier issues.

Washington’s new envoy, William Ward, a US Army general, was due to take up his new post today, and Paul Patin, spokesman of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, raised the possibility Ward would intervene in the dispute. “Security co-ordination is his brief,” he said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia accused Israel of foot-dragging, and the militant Islamic Hamas group warned that Israel “would be held fully responsible for the consequences”.

The disagreement over Jericho appears to focus mostly on a gleaming luxury casino and hotel just outside Jericho. Built in the heyday of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking in the mid-90s, the “Oasis” casino was forced to close after the outbreak of violence in 2000.

Most customers were Israelis, who flocked to Jericho, just 18 miles from Jerusalem, because casino gambling is illegal in Israel. A month after the start of fighting, Israel banned its citizens from entering Palestinian areas, and the casino took some gunfire.

With relations between the two sides improved since the death of long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, many Palestinians in Jericho are hoping that the Israelis will come back – restoring jobs and boosting the town’s battered tourism-based economy.

But the Israelis don’t think the time is right yet. The ban on Israeli citizens entering Palestinian areas is still in force, and all that would stop them from streaming to the casino again is a roadblock the Palestinians want removed.

But the Israelis say that Vered Yericho, a nearby Jewish settlement of 160 residents, would be vulnerable to militant attacks if the roadblock were to be removed.

“Without lifting the roadblocks, the handover will be meaningless,” said Erekat, who lives in Jericho, speaking by phone from Madrid.