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Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank early Thursday as he was preparing to throw a fire bomb at them, in the third such killing over the past three days. The IDF said the Palestinian was one of three men an army patrol spotted carrying firebombs under cover of darkness in the West Bank village of Kufr Malik, and he was shot when he ignored warning fire. The other two escaped. Palestinian medics named the dead man as Aziz Yousef, 20, and said his body was handed over by Israeli officials before dawn. Meanwhile on Thursday, IDF troops detained four Islamic Jihad militants near the West Bank city of Jenin. During the arrest, two pipe bombs weighing 20 kilos overall were confiscated. Border Police sappers dismantled the explosives. Early Thursday another fire bomber died in a Ramallah hospital after being shot Wednesday during what the military said was a mob attack on an army position in nearby Jelazoun refugee camp. Hospital staff named him as Mohammed Ramahi, 21. Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the killings. He noted that Israel has been observing a cease-fire with the Hamas militant group, which controls the Gaza Strip, and asked "why Israel is utterly unwilling to do the same in the West Bank." The incident early Thursday began as a violent demonstration in protest at the killing of another man a day before, residents and hospital officials said. They said the 21-year-old was shot in the chest as Palestinians burnt tires to block a road north of the hub city of Ramallah, 100 meters from the settlement of Beit El. He later died of his wounds. An IDF spokesman said troops shot a protester who had been preparing to attack them with a fire-bomb. Palestinian witnesses confirmed that the man who was shot was at the protest but did not say to what extent he had taken part. The demonstration was called in memory of an 18-year-old from a Palestinian refugee camp near Ramallah who was shot dead Tuesday by IDF soldiers from the same unit, part of the Kfir infantry brigade's Lavi battalion. The army said that Palestinian, as well as two others who fled the scene, were suspected of preparing to attack Beit El with fire-bombs. Soldiers found next to the teen's body a cache of ten other fire-bombs, which he apparently planned on hurling at the settlement. An IDF spokeswoman said that in light of a number of recent attacks in and around the settlement, an army squad had set up an ambush after dark on Tuesday, which subsequently caught the Palestinian.Palestinian officials identified the dead teen as Abdel Kader Zeit from Jalazoun. Palestinian youths frequently throw stones and sometimes fire-bombs at settler cars or military vehicles in the West Bank. Israel has been conducting peace talks with the West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for nearly a year. Despite the talks, Israel frequently carries out military operations in the West Bank, saying Abbas has not done enough to control militants in the territory. Abbas says he is succeeding in restoring law and order in the West Bank, and has argued that the Israeli military operations have undermined his efforts to rein in gunmen.By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent, News Agencies and Haaretz Service
As in the days of Noah...
