Fruitless talks end in Middle East

JERUSALEM - Israeli-Palestinian talks about easing Israel's military grip on the Gaza Strip and West Bank broke without agreement yesterday, and new violence erupted soon afterwards.

Israel sent tanks into the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya for the second successive day to hunt for militants. A 17-year-old Palestinian died after being shot while riding his bicycle as troops fired to disperse stone-throwers.

Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and seriously wounded by Israeli soldiers during a funeral for a slain militant of the radical Islamic group Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip.

The unidentified teen from Khan Yunis was shot in the chest by soldiers guarding a nearby Jewish settlement and was evacuated to hospital, they said.

The witnesses said Israeli soldiers opened fire on a funeral procession of several thousand people for Hossam Hamdan, 24, a member of the armed branch of Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamdan, the son of a senior Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip, was shot dead with three bullets to the heart by an Israeli sniper posted in a nearby settlement while standing on his roof in Khan Yunis.

Military sources said Israeli forces demolished the West Bank homes of four Palestinians suspected of involvement in suicide bombings, continuing a policy that has been condemned by human rights groups.

The violence underlined the obstacles to peace as three Palestinian cabinet ministers prepared for the first high-level talks with US officials since President George W. Bush said in June that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat should be sidelined.

A breakthrough had always been unlikely in this week's round of Israeli-Palestinian security talks, the first for months, but Israel said the sides agreed to another meeting early next week.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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