Israeli occupation troops have killed more Palestinians and arrested 13 others in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought on Tuesday to contain a bribery scandal that threatens to turn voters away from his Likud party. In new violence, witnesses said a 17-year-old Palestinian man was killed when an Israeli tank fired on the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and hit his house. Israeli occupation army sources said the man had shot at occupation soldiers from an abandoned house.

In the same spot Tuesday, occupation troops were attacked by Palestinians shooting and throwing grenades, an occupation army statement said. An Israeli civilian at the scene was lightly wounded but there were no reports of other casualties, it added.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli occupation soldiers searching for suspected Palestinian resistance activists claimed to have discovered a "mobile bomb lab" in the car of one fugitive, the occupation army said.

Occupation troops arrested the driver and two other wanted men.

In the town of Hebron, al-Khalil, occupation soldiers found and defused a 22-pound bomb in the remains of the local Palestinian Authority headquarters. The compound had been largely demolished by troops in successive incursions.

In the Gaza Strip, witnesses said troops shot dead a 22-year-old man who approached an Israeli-controlled zone along the border with Egypt late on Monday.

Neighbors said he was mentally ill and ignored calls to turn back. Israeli occupation sources said he ran toward the occupation army post and occupation soldiers opened fire, suspecting he had explosives.

The occupation army said it arrested at least 13 resistance activists overnight in the Gaza Strip and five West Bank Palestinian-ruled cities, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Tulkarm and in the Jenin area.

SHARON'S TELEVISED INTERVIEW

Meanwhile, and in a television interview, Sharon said that his government was still in contact with moderate Palestinians after more than two years of conflict, but gave no details.

Sharon also said there would be no movement on a "road map" for peace drawn up by a quartet of peacekeepers -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- until after the election and the next government is formed.

At the same time, Sharon rejected opposition calls for a unilateral troop withdrawal from Palestinian areas.

Amram Mitzna, the leader of the opposition center-left Labour Party, is campaigning on a pledge to pull troops out of the occupied Gaza Strip if elected.

But Sharon dismissed Mitzna's proposal, saying no unilateral pullout is possible until a peace agreement is negotiated and the Palestinians carry out democratic reforms.

Taking a tough line to try to prevent Likud hemorrhaging support before the January 28 general election, Sharon said he would expel any party members involved in corruption over a ballot in which they chose a list of top election candidates.

Candidates in the internal Likud ballot have said publicly they were approached by influential party activists who promised to swing votes their way in return for money.

Despite the launching of a police investigation into the allegations, the latest opinion polls project Likud will come in first with 34 to 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, compared to earlier projections of about 38 mandates.

MITZNA WARNS PALESTINIANS

Mitzna, for his part, warned Palestinians on Tuesday he would beat them "to a pulp" if they continue terror attacks. Polls show that Sharon's Likud Party is far ahead of Labor in the Jan. 28 election.

Amram Mitzna's harsh warnings were meant to counter his image as a so-called dove, while Sharon's gestures toward the Palestinians sought to soften his image as a hawk.

The candidates were concentrating their appeals on a large bloc of undecided voters who are disillusioned with peace talks but unsympathetic to traditional refusal of Sharon's Likud Party to compromise with the Palestinians.

Mitzna calls for an unconditional Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a year of negotiations over the West Bank. If the negotiations fail, he advocates drawing Israel's border unilaterally, pulling out of West Bank areas and dismantling Jewish settlements.

Sharon has said he would eventually accept creation of a limited Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank and Gaza

PEACE BLUEPRINT

Israeli and U.S. officials have been discussing a peace blueprint and a plan for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to send a delegation to London for talks next month.

But hawkish Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European envoys in Jerusalem: "There can be no progress in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians until far-reaching changes are made in the Palestinian Authority leadership."

Arafat has accepted an offer by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a team to go to London for talks with members of the "quartet" and countries in the Middle East.

But he says his ability to carry out democratic reforms is limited by the Israeli occupation army's presence in Palestinian areas.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli occupation soldier (R) searches a detained Palestinian man in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron December 17. Photo by Nayef Hashlamoun/Reuters
- Dec 17 12:36 PM