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Israel kills Hamas leader as Fatah chief is on trial

Israel's overnight killing of a wheelchair-bound Hamas leader -- and the death of a second Palestinian at the same house -- drew sharp Palestinian criticism and threats of a new round of reprisals yesterday.

Despite the latest violence, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials planned to hold more talks yesterday on a possible Israeli troop pullback beginning in the Gaza Strip.

The sides agreed late Wednesday that Israel would release another US$14 million of the hundreds of millions in tax money it has been withholding from the Palestinians. Israel handed over one installment recently to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

In Gaza yesterday, Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the death late Wednesday of one of the group's leaders, Nasser Jerar, "will not pass without strong punishment."

Israeli forces knocked down the house where they located Jerar in the West Bank town of Tubas and he was buried by the rubble, the military and residents said.

In a statement, the military said Jerar had continued his Hamas activities despite losing both legs and an arm while trying to plant a bomb in May last year. It said Jerar recruited suicide bombers and was planning a bombing aimed at bringing down an unidentified high-rise building in Israel.

The military gave a local Palestinian resident a bulletproof vest and ordered him to go to the house and tell the 44-year-old Jerar to surrender, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.

But as the man, Nidal Daraghmeh, 19, was approaching the house, he was hit by gunfire, the army said.

Palestinians charged that Israeli gunfire killed him, while the army said that he was hit by gunfire from inside the house.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem charged that soldiers used Daraghmeh as a "human shield."

The army said it was trying to prevent civilian deaths by having Daraghmeh warn any civilians who may have been in the house with Jerar.

After the shooting, Israel tore down the house with Jerar inside.

Meanwhile, Israel on Wednesday indicted Marwan Barghouthi, one of the top leaders of the Palestinian uprising, over the killings of scores of Israelis in a revolt which the handcuffed prisoner vowed would be victorious.

"The intifada will win," a defiant Barghouthi shouted in Hebrew at reporters who packed a Tel Aviv District Court where Israel is conducting its first civilian trial of a major player in the nearly two-year-old uprising for independence.

Israel was expected to use the proceedings against Barghouthi, charismatic leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank, as a showcase for allegations that groups linked to the Palestinian president are tainted by terrorism.

But legal analysts say the case could boomerang against Israel as Barghouthi's Palestinian lawyers could use the media spotlight to present their client as the victim of a politically motivated bid to discredit the Palestinian Authority.
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