HIGHLIGHTS: 5 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, One in Hebron, Several Others Wounded.
New Settlement Construction Project Covers 90 Acres.
Annan Confident Issue over Jenin Mission Will Be Resolved.
(Read photo caption within).

STORYThanks to Washington's absolute support to the Zionist entity in Tel Aviv, Israel is continuing to flagrantly defy international law with immunity. Israeli tanks entered Hebron, Al-Khalil early Thursday as work began on construction of expanding two internationally illegal settlements in the West Bank. Confusion meanwhile engulfed the future of a UN fact-finding mission to probe Israeli atrocities during its recent invasion of Jenin and it neighbouring refugee camp.

Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank city of Hebron early Thursday, firing in all directions, Palestinian witnesses said. But it was unclear if the move signaled a full-scale invasion of the city.

Ahmed Bashir, a member of the Force 17, an elite security unit, was killed and at least four Palestinians were wounded, Palestinians said.

Witnesses counted seven or eight Israeli tanks moving about one kilometer (half a mile) into the city, in the southern part of the West Bank.

Early Thursday, a Palestinian approached an Israeli roadblock in a car, blowing it up as he tried to escape on foot occupation soldiers shot and killed him.

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military raid near the West Bank town of Hebron on Wednesday, and three in the Gaza Strip. A teen-age boy also was killed Wednesday when students clashed with occupation soldiers carrying out arrests near their school in Jabaa village.

Hebron is a constant source of tension. The heavily Palestinian dominated city is the only West Bank city divided into Israeli and Palestinian zones, as Israeli occupation forces control a section of the city where about 450 Israeli settlers live in three enclaves. There are frequent clashes between the two sides.

GAZA SHOOTING & INCURSION

Israeli occupation troops meanwhile killed four Palestinians who, Israeli sources claim, were trying to attack the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip before dawn on Thursday.

According to Palestinian sources a policeman had been killed and two wounded when their post was hit by machinegun fire from three Israeli tanks that had thrust into the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.

The shooting at Kfar Darom appeared to have erupted shortly before the overnight incursion into Deir al-Balah.


STANDOFF AT BETHLEHEM CONTINUES

The standoff at Bethlehem meanwhile continued with a Palestinian shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli sniper. The man was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital.

A few hours later, two Palestinians surrendered, walking out of the church with hands up and turning themselves over to Israeli occupation soldiers. The two men said they were ill.

The Palestinian who died was hit in shooting, as the Israeli and Palestinian delegations were arriving to start the second day of negotiations at the peace center next to the church.

Afterward, one of the Palestinians negotiators and a priest emerged from the church, carrying a badly wounded man on a stretcher. He died a short time later in hospital.

After the shootout, Israeli soldiers briefly detained five journalists, including an Associated Press photographer, and confiscated their press cards.

ISRAEL BEGINS WEST BANK SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION

In yet another defiant move to the international community, Israel began the first stages of construction work to connect two West Bank settlements by building housing for 480 Jewish families. The settlement linking the Elkana and Shaarei Tikva settlements near Tel Aviv will cover about 90 acres, making it among the largest in the northern West Bank region.

The issue of the internationally illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory in a another typical flagrant Israeli violation of international law, is one of the main stumbling blocks in the search for a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Palestinians demand removal of settlements from West Bank land they consider part of any future state.

ISRAELI DELEGATION IN NEW YORK TO DISCUSS EXPANDING UN JENIN PROBE TEAM

Israel pushed the United Nations on Wednesday to clarify the mandate of a U.N. fact-finding team and add members with military expertise, saying the mission appears designed to blame Israel for devastation wrought in battles with Palestinian Resistance men in the Jenin refugee camp.

An Israeli team flew to New York to try to persuade U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to expand the 3-person team to include anti-terror and military experts. Annan has not ruled out adding experts in an advisory capacity, but hasn't discussed altering the core 3-person team. He also has said he won't delay the mission's arrival, expected by Saturday.

Meanwhile, Annan said Wednesday that he was confident that the issue over the mission would be resolved.

AN ARAB REQUEST FOR ANOTHER UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON JENIN

At the request of Arab nations, the U.N. Security Council held consultations late Wednesday to discuss a draft resolution requesting Israel's full cooperation with the fact-finding commission and demanding an end to the Israeli military sieges of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.

No action was taken on the document, and diplomats said discussion would resume late Thursday.

GREECE & TURKEY EMBARK ON A LARGELY SYMBOLIC DIPLOMATIC MISSION

The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey meanwhile, arrived in Israel Wednesday in an attempt to show Israelis and Palestinians that even centuries-old foes can work together to promote peace.

George Papandreou of Greece and Ismail Cem of Turkey admitted their trip is largely symbolic, but they said they wanted to give Israelis and Palestinians new hope that their differences can be resolved.

The ministers are to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Papandreou said the two embarked on the trip "without harboring any illusions that a solution is easy, or that our mission will be the decisive mission."

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian gunmen, shooting in the air, follow the funeral procession of Marwan Zalloum, the local commander of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and his bodyguard through the streets of the southern West Bank town of Hebron, Tuesday April 23, 2002. Zalloum and his bodyguard Samir Abu Ragap were killed late Monday by an Israeli army helicopter gunship missile attack. In retaliation Palestinians shot and killed three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israeli forces. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitaraki