Israeli occupation forces killed three Palestinians in the West Bank Wednesday and razed the East Jerusalem homes of resistance activists behind a resistance bombing at Hebrew University in which seven people died, including five Americans. Occupation troops also closed the Islamic University and Polytechnic Institute in Hebron, calling them a "hotbed for terror attacks," and arrested two Hamas resistance activists in the West Bank city. The closures prompted brief clashes when a curfew was imposed.

Wednesday's killings were the latest in a surge of intifadha confrontations before a general election in Israel on January 28 that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is widely expected to win despite a corruption scandal that has rocked his right-wing Likud party.

In East Jerusalem, the army demolished the family homes of the four Palestinian members of a Hamas cell that carried out a series of attacks, including the bombing of a cafeteria at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and a well-known cafe near the prime minister's residence, that killed a total of 35 people.

The four were sentenced last month to between 60 years and multiple life terms in prison.

Israel regularly destroys the homes of resistance activists accused of attacks, but it was the first time it had used the policy against residents of East Jerusalem who have Israeli identity cards and can obtain Israeli citizenship if they desire.

World leaders have condemned demolition policy as a human-rights abuse.

President Yasser Arafat called the killings of the three Palestinians an acceleration of the conflict under way since the Palestinians rose up in September 2000 after talks on a final peace settlement envisaging a Palestinian state stalled.

The U.S. government questioned the wisdom of Israel closing down the two universities. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher reiterated that Israel had a right to defend itself and live in security but that Palestinians had a right to live their lives in "as normal conditions as possible."

"We would have to question how the closure of universities contributes to any of those goals," Boucher said in Washington.

SURGE OF CONFRONTATIONS

Israeli occupation forces killed a 16-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank city of Tulkarm during clashes with youths throwing stones and explosive devices, Palestinians said. The occupation army said its forces shot one person who threw homemade grenades at its soldiers.

Palestinian residents said the occupation army later killed another 16-year-old in Tulkarm when he violated a curfew.

In the northern West Bank village of Qabatiya, Israeli occupation soldiers killed a Palestinian man during an operation to arrest resistance activists holed up in a house in the village.

Palestinian residents said the dead man had psychological problems and was killed when he came out of his house to watch occupation soldiers trying to force two members of the resistance group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to surrender.

The two gave up after a brief gun battle. The occupation army claimed its forces killed the man because they thought he had explosives strapped to his body and would attack them.

Diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict have failed. In the latest attempt, international mediators at a conference in London urged Israel not to undermine Palestinian reforms and told the Palestinians they must do more to halt violence.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Israeli occupation army destroys the homes of Palestinian members of a Hamas cell in East Jerusalem on January 15, 2003. The army also closed the Islamic University and Polytechnic Institute in the West Bank city of Hebron, saying they were a 'hotbed for terror attacks'. (Ammar Awad/Re