A Palestinian resistance activist and a Jewish settler were killed as violence continued in the Gaza Strip, while in Washington top world diplomats were to meet to discuss a peace "roadmap" which the United States has already delayed until after Israeli polls next month.In Ramallah, the Palestinian electoral committee was expected to recommend to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that he delay scheduled presidential and legislative polls also due in January until after Israeli occupation troops pull back from the West Bank, occupied for six straight months.In the central Gaza town of Deir El-Balah, an overnight raid by 10 Israeli tanks and two bulldozers left a Palestinian resistance man dead.

The Israeli armoured column was backed up by helicopters which fired machine-guns over the town.Israeli occupation troops ordered the inhabitants of the home of an activist of Arafat's Fatah movement to evacuate the building before destroying it with explosives, Palestinian security sources said.The slain man was identified by witnesses as Nadji Mussa, 23, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees which are made up of former members of all Palestinian factions and maintain close ties with each.Six other Palestinians, mostly youths, were injured in the foray.

The occupation army said in a statement it had dynamited three houses belonging to "terrorists" and arrested 10 people, three of them wanted for anti-Israeli attacks.During searches in the town, the occupation troops unearthed a home-made mortar and bomb-making equipment, the occupation army said.

It added that shots had been fired at the Israeli occupation forces as they entered the town, although no occupation soldiers were injured.

The occupation forces pulled back early Friday, it added.

Later Friday a Jewish settler was shot dead on a road in the southern Gaza Strip when suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the man's car, Israeli settler and security sources said.

The ambush occurred near the Kissufim junction, on the main road leading from Israeli to the Gush Katif settlement bloc which occupies the southern coastline of the Gaza Strip, the sources said.In the northern West Bank, the occupation army said it had arrested more than 40 Palestinians in a sweep of the town of Jenin and surrounding villages.

One Israeli soldier was slightly injured in the operation.Meanwhile in Washington, the so-called diplomatic quartet on the Middle East was due to meet in Washington to discuss its peace "roadmap" to create a Palestinian state by 2005 and ensure Israeli security.

Washington has angered the Palestinians and snubbed EU efforts for a swift adoption of the plan after acceding to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's demands that any finalisation of the peace blueprint be delayed until after the Israeli elections on January 28.

The Palestinians have accused the United States, Israel's main ally, of effectively backing Sharon's campaign efforts, after the right-wing premier, who is leading all opinion polls, expressed reservations about the plan.Israel thinks it could be constrained to make security concessions without obtaining any concrete moves by the Palestinian Authority to end attacks on Israelis.And in Ramallah, like almost the entire West Bank occupied by Israeli occupation forces since June, the Palestinian electoral committee was expected to ask Arafat to delay January's polls until after the Israeli occupation army quits the West Bank.

A source close to the committee said that when its nine members met Arafat Friday morning they would not set a specific date but would recommend waiting until the occupation army pulled back from the reoccupied Palestinian autonomous zones.

The occupation army progressively moved into self-rule areas from June 19, following a spate of Palestinian resistance bombings, imposing curfews and strict travel restrictions and carrying out constant operations to hunt down hundreds of suspected resistance activists .

PHOTO CAPTION

Doctors work on an 11-year-old Palestinian girl shot by Israeli occupation soldiers