Military

DATE=03/18/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= ISRAEL PALESTINIANS (S-O)

NUMBER=2-300841

BYLINE= SONJA PACE

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian militant were killed in overnight violence in a village near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Jerusalem on the latest deaths, which come amid intensifying security sweeps by Israeli troops in the Palestinian territories.

TEXT: According to the military, one soldier was killed and another injured when a Palestinian militant opened fire on the troops. The gunman was then killed in an ensuing shoot out.

Israel's Army Radio identified the militant, as Ali Alan, a senior member of the radical group, Hamas and high on Israel's most wanted list.

At least eleven Palestinians were killed on Monday -- most of them during an incursion by Israeli forces into the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

A day earlier an Israeli army bulldozer ran over and killed a young American peace activist who was trying to prevent it from destroying a Palestinian home.

U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan has sharply criticized Israel's raids in Gaza, and the United States has called on Israel to respect the dignity of Palestinian civilians during military operations.

NEB/SP/AWP