Military

DATE=12/7/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= ISRAEL PALESTINIANS / L-O

NUMBER=2-320981

BYLINE= LARRY JAMES

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Militants and Israeli Troops Battle in Gaza

INTRO: A period of relative calm in the Gaza Strip was broken by a nearly

hour-long battle between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops that left at

least one Israeli soldier and one militant dead. VOA's Larry James reports from

Jerusalem.

TEXT: The violence erupted when militants exploded a booby-trapped chicken coop

as Israeli troops approached the structure to inspect it. The blast triggered a

gun battle that lasted for 45 minutes and involved heavy exchanges of fire. At one point, an Israeli aircraft was called in and fired a missile at a group of men, killing one of them.

The militant group Hamas claims responsibility for the setting off the explosive

device that killed the Israeli soldier. Islamic Jihad says one of its men was killed by the missile fire by the Israeli aircraft.

The fighting was the first major flare up since the death of Yasser Arafat,

November 11th. Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to

negotiate a ceasefire by militant groups, in the run up to the presidential

election, January Ninth. So far. he has gotten no public commitment from the

main militant groups to agree to his appeal for calm.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced it has ordered the elite navy commando

unit -- the Shayetet -- to cease operations in the West Bank, while investigators

look into allegations that the commandos had killed a wounded Palestinian

prisoner.

A report by the Israeli human rights group Betselem raises questions about the

circumstances of the killing of a wanted member of Islamic Jihad in Jenin, last

Friday. The group quotes Palestinian civilians who say they believe the man,

Mahmoud Abdel al-Rahman Hammad, was shot to death as he lay on the ground,

wounded and unarmed.

The Jenin incident is the most-recent in a string of events that have raised

questions about the behavior of the Israeli military in occupied Palestinian

areas. (signed).

NEB/LDJ/WD