Amid ongoing military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites), Israeli troops shot dead one Palestinian and injured eight others, Palestinian sources said, while Israel said it nabbed five Palestinian militants preparing suicide attacks.
Two Israeli soldiers were also injured by Palestinian gunfire in a day of sporadic violence which saw the EU's Mideast envoy meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) and urging him to approve a new cabinet as a precursor for the publication of the Mideast peace roadmap.
A Palestinian teen was shot dead on Thursday morning during an Israeli military operation in Tulkarem which was aimed at nabbing a ring of suspected suicide bombers intent on carrying out an attack inside Israel.
Palestinian security sources said Yussef Yahia, 16, was part of a group of Palestinian youths throwing stones at soldiers operating in the town, but Israeli military officials claimed he was killed after throwing two petrol bombs.
Further north, two more Palestinian stonethrowers, one of them a 12-year-old boy, were moderately injured by Israeli gunfire in the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian medical sources said, and the army said two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured by Palestinian gunfire in Jenin town.
A curfew was imposed on Jenin and Tulkarem early Wednesday ahead of the week-long Jewish festival of Passover following warnings that Palestinian militants would attempt a suicide attack similiar to last year when a Hamas activist blew himself up, killing 30 Israelis.
Troops converged on Tulkarem overnight, arresting a unit of four Palestinians, including a woman, which the army said was planning a suicide attack in Israel.
According to an army statement, three of them were from the radical Islamic Jihad movement, and the fourth was a woman who was planning to carry the explosive into Israel.
Another Palestinian militant planning a suicide attack was also arrested in Tulkarem, the statement said, saying he was a Hamas activist.
Sporadic violence was also seen in Gaza Thursday, where six Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire in two separate incidents, and one man died of injuries sustained in an Israeli air raid last week, Palestinian medical sources said.
Three Palestinians were wounded by gunfire during an army incursion in the central area of Deir el-Balah, medical sources said, while another three -- two teens and a child -- were injured after troops opened fire in Rafah refugee camp on the southern border with Egypt.
Palestinian security sources said a tank on the border fired a burst of machine-gun fire without provocation, hitting a 17-year-old boy in the chest and seriously injuring him.
A 13-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl were also moderately injured in the incident, they said.
Medical sources in Gaza City said a Palestinian wounded in an Israeli air strike on April 8 died Thursday in hospital, bringing the death toll from the double air strike to nine.
Thursday's deaths raised to 3,164 the number of people killed since the September 2000 outbreak of the uprising against Israeli occupation, including 2,382 Palestinians and 724 Israelis.
As the violence continued, the EU's Mideast envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos met with Arafat in Ramallah and urged him to approve a new cabinet as soon as possible in order to push forward the publication date of the Mideast peace roadmap.
Moratinos said he hoped "the Palestinians will finish the reforms and approve a new cabinet as soon as possible in order to publish the roadmap without any changes."
The roadmap, drafted by the diplomatic "quartet" of the United States, Russia, United Nations (news - web sites) and the EU, proposes a resumption of negotiations with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state by 2005.
Two weeks ago, US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said the roadmap would be published after the Palestinians approved a full cabinet under prime minister Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.
Since his appointment in March, Abbas has been trying to set up a new government, but has encountered numerous problems. He now has until April 24 to announce his new line-up.
Home Improvement: HGTV-Pruning | DIY-People | Home Security | BedBathStore 
