A Palestinian grandfather who was shot in the stomach by Israeli occupation soldiers during a sweep for activists died after being transferred from an Israeli hospital to the West Bank during a winter storm, his family says. Family members say Fathi Abu Jabarrah, 60, was discharged prematurely - and knowingly put at risk - because of a payment dispute. The Israeli hospital denies discharging him over a lack of payment, saying when he left he was well on the road to recovery.

"I don't understand how this happened," said his wife, Wajiha Abu Jabarrah, 47. "They should have kept treating him at that hospital."

Abu Jabarrah, 60, was celebrating Eid al-Adha, Islam's biggest feast, on Feb. 11, when occupation soldiers stopped him for questioning, according to his wife.

While he and other residents were waiting on a corner for occupation troops, a group of occupation soldiers began firing from across the street, she said. An 8-year-old boy was killed in the gunfire, and Abu Jabarrah was shot in stomach.

The occupation army said occupation soldiers returned fire after the group began rioting, throwing firebombs and rocks.

Abu Jabarrah's family said he was not involved in any resistance activity.

Palestinian medics first took him to a hospital in the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, where doctors said his condition was too serious to treat. Two hospitals in Nablus also were ill-equipped to treat him, so he was moved to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

In more than two years of violence, Israeli hospitals have treated hundreds of Palestinians. Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital has given care to dozens without collecting fees, said spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy, adding that the Palestinian Authority  owes the hospital a considerable amount of money for their treatment.

Days after his arrival at the hospital, officials told Abu Jabarrah's wife that unless she paid for his entire bill - 36,000 Israeli shekels, or about 7,300 dlrs - they would have to discharge him, she said.

"I told them the army shot him and the army should be responsible for his treatment," she said.

Doctors performed surgery on him in the Israeli hospital, said Hagit Sharon, a hospital spokeswoman.

When he was in stable condition, hospital officials spoke to Palestinian medical officials and it was decided he should be transferred to a West Bank hospital for rehabilitation, Sharon said.

Dr. Basem Remawi, a Palestinian Health Ministry official in charge of coordination with Israeli hospitals, denied the claim and said no one contacted him until the ambulance was stopped at a checkpoint at the border.

Abu Jabarrah, a retired metal worker who lived in Germany and returned to the West Bank as a cosmetics distributor, was transferred from the Israeli hospital to the West Bank on Feb. 25, during one of the worst winter storms to hit the Middle East in decades.

The Israeli ambulance took him to the border, but Palestinians said another ambulance coming from the West Bank was delayed at an Israeli checkpoint for nearly two hours - a common complaint from Palestinians traveling to get urgent medical care.

Since fighting erupted in September 2000, Israeli occupation soldiers have maintained roadblocks all over the West Bank, hampering Palestinian travel. The Israelis say the checkpoints are necessary to stop attackers.

"The patient received professional and loyal treatment in everything he needed ... and at no stage was he denied medical treatment," said Sharon. "The doctors were shocked and saddened to hear that he died."

Dr. Hussam Johari, director of Rafidiyah Hospital in Nablus, where Abu Jabarrah died of a pulmonary embolism, said Abu Jabarrah should have never been moved in his condition. An embolism is the obstruction of a blood vessel by a clot or air bubble.

"The Israelis did an impressive surgery on him, but he was still in very bad condition and should have continued being treated at the hospital," he said.

Abu Jabarrah had five children and two grandchildren. He was buried Wednesday.

Britain, Spain Pledge Fresh Middle East Peace Drive

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar pledged a fresh drive to kick-start the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Britain and Spain share a very common position on the absolute priority of restarting the peace process in the Middle East," Blair said Friday during a joint press conference with Aznar in Madrid.

"We now have a very clear common agreement across the world that the fairest solution is two states -- an Israel confident of its security and a viable Palestinian state -- living side by side.

"It is our desire that we re-begin that process and reach that objective as soon as we possibly can and both of us will play our full part in achieving that," Blair told reporters.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian leader Yasser Araf