Israeli occupation troops killed three Palestinians during a West Bank dragnet Thursday and locked down the Gaza Strip in an operation against the resistance Islamic group Hamas.The ever-growing tough occupation army measures were in tandem with tentative steps toward a possible truce to end 29 months of Mideast violence.

The diplomatic focus was an international plan to stop fighting, disengage forces and create a provisional Palestinian state in about three years.

Occupation Troops Kill a Teenager & His Grandfather

In Thursday's violence, Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian and fatally wounded his grandfather as they walked home from a nearby mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus, neighbors said. The occupation army claimed they were part of a group throwing firebombs at troops.

Occupation Soldiers also killed a 24-year-old Palestinian in the town of Tulkarem. The occupation army claimed the man was armed, but Palestinians said he was an unarmed Hamas supporter.

Occupation troops are reportedly conducting a massive manhunt in Nablus. Israel Radio said 40 Palestinian suspects had been rounded up there since Wednesday night.

Residents said that Israeli occupation soldiers went door to door through the narrow streets of the Old City looking for suspects and called through loudspeakers for Palestinians to hand over wanted men.

The occupation troops used small explosive charges to blow locks off shops, and a goldsmith's workshop was destroyed. Such shops can hold chemicals that can also be used in bomb making, and occupation soldiers have demolished several in previous raids.

Gaza Strip Cut into Three Sectors

In the Gaza Strip, the scene of most of the recent violence, Israeli soldiers built dirt barricades to block Gaza's main north-south road and divide the territory into three parts by blocking vehicle traffic.

As in the past, Palestinians sought to evade the barriers by traveling along a narrow strip of beach to reach their jobs, visit hospitals or take care of other business.

Palestinians Fire Rockets at the Internationally Illegal Settlement of Sedrot

The army said its Gaza operation was in response to Palestinian rocket fire Wednesday, when several missiles were launched from northern Gaza at the Israeli town of Sderot, just outside the territory. One Israeli was injured.

The occupation army said another four rockets were fired into Israel after nightfall Thursday, but they exploded in an unpopulated area.

Policy of Expanding Internationally Illegal Settlements Continuing

In another development, Israeli authorities approved construction of 126 houses in Efrat, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Kobi Bleich, a Housing Ministry spokesman, said there was a demand for additional homes in Efrat as the population continued to grow. Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and Gaza for a future state and demand the removal of all 150 Jewish settlements and the more than 225,000 residents.

Quartet Call For an Immediate, Comprehensive Ceasefire by Israelis & Palestinians

Meeting in London, envoys from the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - the so-called Quartet putting together the "road map" - called Thursday for an immediate, comprehensive cease-fire by Israelis and Palestinians.

Israeli and Palestinian officials also have been holding talks in London, where U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met Palestinian Cabinet ministers.

In London, Burns told the Palestinians that formal talks on the "road map" peace plan would not resume until Sharon has formed a new government - a process that could take several more weeks - and would also depend on developments in Iraq, said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, a participant at the meeting.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Thursday that Israel wants more than 100 changes made to the road map, including leaving the timetable open-ended, dropping the Palestinian demand for the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to what is now Israel and ousting Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian leadership.

Sharon Rejects Two Major Palestinian Demands

Speaking in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again rejected two key Palestinian demands in any final peace settlement - a capital in Jerusalem and return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their original homes in Israel.

"I don't think there is any right to anyone to make any compromise when it comes to Jerusalem," he told visiting U.S. Jewish leaders, adding that allowing millions of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel "means the destruction of Israel as (an) independent, democratic Jewish state."

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians strain to see as police officers carry the coffin containing high-ranking Hamas militant Riyadh Abu Zeid minutes after Israel turned his body over to Palestinian authorities, at the hospital morgue in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003. (AP Photo/Brennan Li