NABLUS, West Bank (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Palestinian officials said four Palestinians were murdered by Israeli occupation soldiers in the early hours of Wednesday in another brutal Israeli reaction to Palestinian resistance to occupation. (Read photo caption below). According to the sources the four Palestinians were killed near the West Bank city of Nablus.
The sources said three of the bodies were discovered at dawn in an olive grove near the village of Beit Iba and that a fourth body was in the hands of the Israeli army.
The governor of Palestinian-ruled Nablus, Mahmoud Aloul, gave a slightly different account. He said one of the men was a Resistance man injured in an exchange of fire and ``when three other Palestinians...came to pick up the injured man, they were shot at in cold blood and killed immediately.''
Medical officials in Nablus identified three of the dead as Hakam Shehada, 22, Fadi Samaineh, 25, and Zaher Ismail, 30.
The new casualties marked a fresh bout of confrontations in nearly 11 months of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation which began in late September after peace talks stalled.

PHOTO CAPTION:
A Palestinian Policeman looks at three of four bodies after they were gunned down by Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus, August 22, 2001. Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead four Palestinians on Wednesday, hours after Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to hold ceasefire talks, Palestinian officials said. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini