Israeli occupation troops shot and killed two Palestinian resistance activists in the West Bank Friday, and 30,000 supporters of the resistance group Hamas rallied in the Gaza Strip, vowing to avenge the killings of resistance men and civilians. One of the resistance activists , Tarek Abed Rabbo, was a senior field commander of Hamas's military wing. Palestinian security sources said he was shot 13 times while hiding in a closet by occupation soldiers who raided Nour Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm.

"Abed Rabbo ... was killed as he resisted arrest," an Israeli occupation army statement said. "In addition, the occupation forces arrested Mohammed Walir, another senior Hamas activist. 

The Palestinian security sources said four Palestinians were wounded.

Earlier, occupation soldiers killed an armed Palestinian in an exchange of fire in Thabra village, south of Bethlehem in the West Bank, when he tried to evade capture, Israeli occupation army sources said.

But Palestinian witnesses said occupation troops surrounded a house where Jadallah Shoka, 32, an Islamic Jihad member, was hiding and killed him in a barrage of gunfire before detaining three other men inside. They said the Israelis never came under fire.

The violence, which has continued despite Washington's appeals for calm while it seeks Arab support for a possible war on Iraq, followed a day of bloodletting Thursday in which seven Palestinians and two Israeli occupation soldiers were killed.

Five of the Palestinian dead were unarmed workers killed by an Israeli tank shell while trying to climb a security fence around the Gaza Strip to sneak into Israel to find jobs. The other two, shot in separate incidents, were resistance men .

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled called the killings a "tragic event" but said "they were five suspicious persons in a prohibited area."

Israel has said blockades it has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza since the start in September 2000 of a Palestinian uprising for statehood are aimed at stopping resistance attacks.

Thousands of Palestinian workers have been cut off from jobs in Israel by the travel restrictions that have crippled the Palestinian economy.

HAMAS VOWS MORE RESISTANCE

Some 30,000 Hamas supporters packed a sports stadium in the southern Gazan town of Khan Younis, where they cheered a parade of resistance men and 20 would-be resistance bombers wearing white shrouds emblazoned with the words "martyrs-in-waiting."

"Qassam will take revenge," speakers shouted over loudspeakers, referring to Hamas's military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in resistance attacks.

The rally, one of the biggest Hamas has held since the start of the Palestinian uprising, marked the 15th anniversary of the organization's founding.

Organizers laid Israeli flags on the steps of the stadium so that those walking to the stage to speak could tread on them.

OCCUPATION TROOPS DEMOLISH PALESTINIAN HOUSES IN HEBRON, AL-KHALIL

Friday, Israeli armored bulldozers demolished several Palestinian houses in the area of the attack, along the same route where resistance men ambushed and killed 12 Israeli occupation soldiers and security men on November 15.

An Israeli occupation army source said one of the houses the occupation army destroyed was the spot from which shots were fired Thursday.

ARAFAT CHRISTMAS PILGRIMAGE IN DOUBT

Amid the continued violence, chances have diminished of a meeting of Middle East mediators in Washington next week completing the peace plan on which they started work more than six months ago, diplomats said Friday.

"Realistically I don't think the road map will be ready," said a Middle East ambassador who asked not to be identified, referring to a three-stage plan leading to a Palestinian state.

With Christmas approaching, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said he had contacted senior Israeli officials to ask that Israel "not obstruct (President Yasser) Arafat's travel plans to Bethlehem this year to take part in Christmas mass."

A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last week that Israel, which controls West Bank roads and airspace, would not allow Arafat to travel from his headquarters in Ramallah to Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

Israel accuses Arafat of complicity in "terrorism," an allegation he denies.

Israel Radio cited a senior occupation army officer as saying that "due to serious terror threats" the occupation army was unlikely to quit Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem, reoccupied three weeks ago after a resistance bombing killed 11 people on a Jerusalem bus.

PHOTO CAPTION

Mourners carry the bodies of five slain Palestinians of the al-Astal family for funeral in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, December 13, 2002. Seven Palestinians, five of them unarmed, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in separate incidents on Thursday in the Gaza strip and the West Bank city of Hebron. REUTERS/Reinhard Krau