NABLUS, Oct 5: Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian during clashes with stone-throwing protesters on Saturday, Palestinian witnesses and medics said, on the eve of an international round of peace diplomacy.

The incident in the West Bank city of Nablus, which has been under curfew for more than 100 days, inflamed tensions ahead of the arrival of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Saturday for shuttle talks with Israel and the Palestinians.

Palestinian political sources said Solana would bear a letter from the “quartet” of international mediators — the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union — aimed at breaking the current stalemate.

US Middle East envoy William Burns is expected to visit in coming days and a source close to the Israeli government said President George W. Bush had invited Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Washington for a meeting on October 15.

The youth killed in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, Ammar Rajab, was the second Palestinian teenager to be killed in the West Bank in as many days.

On Friday a 16-year-old was killed in the city of Jenin when troops fired in the direction of what the army described as rioters.

Nablus residents said soldiers, who had often allowed children to attend unofficial classes at nearby schools despite the curfew, on Saturday ordered them back home, prompting protesters to begin throwing stones.

Palestinian medics said Rajab had been shot in the head as soldiers fired on the stone-throwers. Witnesses said two other youths, aged 13 and 16, had been wounded. The army said it was checking the report.—Reuters