HIGHLIGHTSPalestinian Resistance Man Wounds a Number of Israeli Construction Workers Near an Internationally Illegal Settlement in the West Bank Before Being Killed by Occupation Troops|*|Occupation Troops Detain 15 Palestinians at Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip|*|Sharon Reported Trying to Form Narrower Alliance of Far-right and Religious Parties That Could Demand a Harder Line against Palestinians|*| Shaul Mofaz, an Advocate of Expelling Arafat, to Be Appointed Defence Minister|*| Left-Wing Meretz Party Files for Vote of Confidence against Sharon Monday|*|Ereqat Says Coalition Crisis Further Evidence Israeli Politics Moving away From Peace|*|Observes Describe Labour's Departure as 'Political Gamble'|*|
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STORY: Israeli occupation forces have staged another targeted killing at Kafr Qalil South of the West Bank City of Nablus as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a struggle to keep his government afloat on Thursday after the Labour Party abandoned his ruling coalition in a bitter dispute over funding for Jewish settlements.

A correspondent for the Doha-based Arabic TV Satellite Station said that a Palestinian intelligence officer, Aayid Bakr Mansour of the Aqsa Brigades Resistance group was assassinate outside his house late Wednesday night. According to the report a special Israeli occupation undercover army unit staged the assassination.

In Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, Israeli occupation forces demolished four houses, leaving 70 people homeless, witnesses said. The homes belonged to the families of two wanted resistance activists and two Palestinians who carried out resistance bombings.

ISRAELI CONSTRUCTION CREW ATTACKED

In other Intifadha confrontations , a Palestinian resistance man opened fire on an Israeli construction crew before he was shot dead Wednesday - the second such attack in two days.

The attacker fired at tractors near Kfar Zita on a highway along the mostly unmarked frontier with the West Bank, and was killed by occupation troops.

Palestinian Resistance have repeatedly infiltrated the internationally illegal Jewish settlements and attacked Israeli motorists in the West Bank and Gaza, part of a campaign to drive settlers from occupied Palestinian territory.

Palestinians say settlers are legitimate targets in their struggle for statehood, living on land designated under international law for a future state. About 200,000 settlers live among 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation troops raided the town of Beit Hanoun and arrested at least five suspected resistance activists. Palestinians said 15 people were rounded up in house-to-house searches.

LABOUR'S PULL OUT SHATTER'S SHARON'S COALITION

Israeli officials said Sharon, who lost his parliamentary majority after Labour quit, had already set to work trying to form a narrower alliance of far-right and religious parties that could demand a harder line against the Palestinians.

Labour's pullout ended a 19-month "national unity" partnership forged as a common front against a Palestinian uprising and could undermine U.S. efforts to calm the region while it prepares for a possible war on Iraq.

Israeli media reported that Sharon planned to appoint as defense minister former army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz, who has advocated the expulsion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

After the collapse of his broad-based coalition, Sharon vowed he would continue leading the country, suggesting he wanted to avoid early elections unless he had no other choice.

Israel Radio reported he had started making contacts with the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, whose seven seats in the 120-member parliament could restore Sharon's majority in the legislature.

With the departure of the center-left Labour Party, which has 25 members in the Knesset, Sharon now controls only 55 parliamentary seats.

POLITICAL GAMBLE

Observers say Labour's departure was a political gamble at a time when it faces waning support among voters while Sharon is riding high in the polls after two years of battle against a Palestinian uprising for statehood.

Commentators said Sharon wants to delay elections until he feels the time is right to face former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who plans to challenge him for the Likud leadership in an as yet unscheduled party election.

Sharon, who apparently plans to keep the foreign ministry portfolio for himself, will face the first major test to his slimmed down government in a no-confidence vote which the left-wing Meretz party has called for Monday.

Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat said the coalition crisis was further evidence that Israeli politics was "moving faster and faster away from an atmosphere of peace."

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, sitting, signs his letter of resignation at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition crumbled Wednesday as Cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned, ending a partnership which for 20 months had united Israel's bitter political rivals in a common front against the Palestinian uprising. A portrait of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin hangs in the background. (AP Photo/Eitan Hess-Ashkenazi)