December 2, 2003	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1424

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RAMALLAH, Dec 1: Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a boy of six, in a major West Bank incursion on Monday that came in sharp counterpoint to the launch in Geneva of a symbolic Middle East initiative.

The operation in the Palestinian political centre of Ramallah also coincided with a mission by a senior US diplomat and Israeli pledges to start scrapping Jewish settler outposts as required by the roadmap.

An Israeli army spokesman said troops killed three militants who opened fire at them and arrested more than 30 wanted members of Hamas in a house-by-house search.

Palestinian medics said the boy died after being shot in the head by Israeli troops around midday in a Ramallah refugee camp. Military sources said soldiers had clashed with stone-throwers near the site and the shooting was under investigation.

The violence unfolded just before the rollout in Switzerland of the alternative peace pact hatched by Israeli left-wing opposition figures and Palestinian politicians, raising pressure on those in power to stop fighting and start talking in earnest.

In Cairo, Palestinian factions including militant leaders are to meet this week to try to hammer out a ceasefire that new moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei wants to present to Israel for its agreement.

Israel said the Ramallah incursion aimed to forestall further attacks on Israelis, again accusing President Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority of failing to rein in militants.

Israeli forces blew up one building they said was an arms factory and another was bulldozed for undetermined reasons.

Palestinian officials said such raids risked stilling the new flurry of peacemaking for they only provoked militants to hit back. Violence has tailed off since October, but Israel still cites frequent intelligence alerts of planned militant attacks.

ISRAELI PLEDGE: US envoy William Burns was in the region trying to clear hurdles to resuming the peace, urging the two sides to go ahead with a meeting between Mr Qorei and Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon delayed by disputes over preconditions.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told Mr Burns in a meeting that six to 10 small West Bank settlement outposts would be dismantled, a government source said.

The roadmap, which envisages creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, stipulates that Israel remove more than 100 outposts — caravan clusters on hilltops — and stop expanding 145 established, suburban-style settlements on occupied land.

“We share the hope that there is a moment before us when we can begin to renew movement on the basis of the roadmap,” Mr Burns told reporters. “It is not going to be easy.”—Reuters