The Palestinian leadership called for a one-year "demilitarization" of the uprising. Three Palestinians were also shot dead in fresh intifadha confrontations, which capped a week of bloodshed during which 35 Palestinians, and four Israelis were killed.
Palestine Liberation Organisation number two Mahmoud Abbas, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mazen, said after meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov that "the Palestinian leadership has decided to demilitarize the intifadha for one year".

He stopped short of clearly calling for an end to the armed struggle against Israeli occupation. But his wording implied an end to attacks not only against civilians inside Israel but also internationally illegal Jewish settlers and occupation soldiers, going further than past calls by the Palestinian leadership.

Abu Mazen, a likely candidate for the newly-created position of Palestinian prime minister, said the truce could be a step towards implementation of a peace roadmap -- drawn up by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- which calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.

Occupation Army Warns Hamas Accept Ceasefire or Face All-out-war

Resistance groups have repeatedly rejected truce calls from the leadership, but Israel has recently turned up the heat on so-called Palestinian hardliners.

The occupation army has been pounding the powerful Islamic Hamas group in its Gaza bastion and the daily Haaretz reported Friday that Israel would declare all-out war on the group if it did not abide by a truce reportedly presented at recent intra-Palestinian talks in Cairo.

More Palestinians Killed

Meanwhile, there was more violence as a Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli occupation troops in his car during an incursion into the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem late Friday, Palestinian security services said.

Israeli occupation army sources also earlier said the army killed a Palestinian attempting to enter the internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Dugit in the northern Gaza Strip.

A few hours later, another Palestinian was shot down by the occupation army at the Erez crossing point, also in the north, after attacking the post with hand grenades and an assault rifle.

Palestinian Rockets Destroy an Israeli Bus

The Islamic Jihad militant group also said during a demonstration by thousands of its supporters in Gaza City that its fighters had used rockets to destroy an Israeli military bus.

It said at the rally in memory of a dozen Palestinians killed during an Israeli raid into the city in January that it had blown up the bus at dawn, although there was no confirmation of the incident from Israel.

Earlier, a member of the Palestinian preventative security was lightly wounded by Israeli fire east of Gaza City as he patrolled the area to prevent Hamas from firing home-made Qassam rockets at Israel, Palestinian security sources also said.

The incident came a day after the Palestinians said they would do their best to prevent Qassam rockets from being fired and two days after a deadly occupation army raid aimed at destroying the workshops where they are allegedly made.

House Demolitions Continue

The Israeli occupation army also continued its house demolitions in the West Bank overnight, destroying a home that belonged to the father of a slain Hamas resistance activist in the northern city of Nablus.

In the southern city of Hebron, another house was reportedly bulldozed Friday morning. The owner was not known to be an activist.

Close to 200 houses have been destroyed by the occupation army since August, mostly belonging to resistance bombers or their families.

Also in Nablus, a 1,500-strong demonstration protesting the occupation army's ongoing operations in the Old City degenerated into clashes between stone-throwers and Israeli occupation troops firing live bullets.

No casualties were reported.

PHOTO CAPTION

Armed Palestinian Hamas fighters form an honor guard during the funeral of Hamas military wing commander Riyad Abu Zeid in Gaza February 21,