Two Palestinian resistance bombers blew up an explosives-laden fishing boat close to an Israeli patrol craft on Saturday, wounding four sailors, in the first such attack since the start of the Palestinian uprising.The resistance Islamic Jihad group said the two resistance bombers, aged 19 and 21, were killed in the overnight attack on the 20-meter Israeli patrol craft in waters near the Gaza Strip .

The Israeli occupation army said four sailors were wounded, three moderately, when the fishing boat blew up as the patrol boat, armed with 20 mm cannon and 12.7 machine guns, approached to warn it to turn back.

The occupation army imposed a complete ban on Palestinian fishing boats plying waters off the Gaza Strip coastline after the incident.

The attack was reminiscent of the USS Cole bombing, which was blamed on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. A boat loaded with explosives rammed the U.S. destroyer off the coastline of Yemen in October 2000, killing 17 crew.

The bombing was the latest in a surge of violence that has challenged U.S. efforts to seek regional calm ahead of a possible war on Iraq.

Israeli radio stations, citing unnamed sources, said an initial military inquiry into the killing of a senior U.N. relief official in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday found an Israeli soldier had fired the fatal shot.

Iain Hook, manager of the Jenin camp rehabilitation project run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), was hit by bullets that tore into UNRWA's compound while Israeli occupation soldiers and Palestinian resistance men exchanged fire nearby.

The radio stations said preliminary findings showed that an Israeli soldier fired on Hook in the midst of the gun battle with Palestinians when he mistook a cellular telephone held by the U.N. official to be a hand grenade. The occupation army said the investigation was still under way and a spokeswoman denied any preliminary findings had been reached.

Israel and the United Nations have said it was unclear who fired the shots that killed Hook, 54, during an Israeli raid to detain a wanted resistance man from the Islamic Jihad group accused of being behind a resistance bombing in October that killed 14 people.

But the United Nations has accused Israeli occupation forces of delaying an ambulance summoned to evacuate Hook. The occupation army said a military ambulance was sent to the Briton's aid but that when it arrived he was already dead.

RESISTANCE MEN HOUSES DEMOLISHED IN BETHLEHEM

In Bethlehem, Israeli occupation forces continued a sweep for suspected resistance men following Thursday's Palestinian resistance bombing of a Jerusalem bus packed with commuters and school children that killed 11 people.

Military commanders said the occupation soldiers were searching for around 30 resistance men from the Bethlehem area involved in carrying out the bombing and planning more attacks against Israelis.

Occupation troops demolished the homes of three resistance men belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, in Bethlehem on Saturday, Palestinian residents said.

The Bethlehem-area house of the bomber behind Thursday's bus bombing was destroyed by Israeli occupation forces on Friday along with the house of a wanted Islamic Jihad resistance man in the city.

Washington used to oppose Israeli incursions into West Bank towns but signaled again on Friday that its attitude has gradually shifted over the months toward qualified acceptance.

"We are...urging the Israelis, in the course of their operations, to keep in mind the consequences of their actions, to complete these operations as quickly as possible and to take steps to avoid further civilian casualties," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told a daily briefing.

Reeker said progress on "realizing Palestinian aspirations," diplomatic code for setting up a Palestinian state, was impossible as long as Palestinians carried out attacks like Thursday's resistance bombing of a Jerusalem bus.

Arafat issued a new call on Friday for an "immediate and complete cessation" of attacks on Israeli civilians.

At least 1,677 Palestinians and 662 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against occupation began in September 2000 after a deadlock in negotiations for a final peace treaty.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian youths confront an Israeli tank during clashes in the West Bank city of Jenin on November 22, 2002. Iain Hook of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Jenin refugee camp was shot dead as Israeli occupation troops fought Palestinian resistance men during a gun battle in Jenin. (Reuter