Palestinian children walk away from the rubble of what used to be a house, destroyed by Israeli troops

GAZA CITY, February 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in the northern Gaza Strip early Friday, February 21, bringing the toll of the night to four victims.

An Israeli military spokesman claimed that "troops opened fire on a suspect who was attempting to enter" the Dugit settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The dead man, in his early 20s, was not named.

Thursday night, three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by the Israeli occupation army.

Security sources on both sides said a Palestinian activist from the Islamic resistance group Hamas died in a shootout with Israeli soldiers, who briefly entered Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

An Israeli soldier later shot a 14-year-old Palestinian girl in the legs as she attacked him with a knife at a Tulkarem checkpoint, witnesses and a military spokesman said.

Local residents said Rehan Owfi was trying to avenge the killing of the Hamas activist, her cousin Mohammed Owfi. She was arrested and hospitalized.

In Nablus to the north, a 17-year-old and his grandfather, 55, were killed as Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of youths pelting them with stones during a major search for resistance activists, Palestinian medics said.

The latest death brings the toll to 2,980 dead since September 2000 when the Palestinian Intifada began.

Houses Destroyed

Meanwhile, the Israeli army destroyed the house of a Hamas activist overnight near Nablus, according to an army statement received by AFP Friday.

"The Israeli forces destroyed the house of Aziz Haj Ali in the village of Jamain overnight," the statement said.

Aziz Haj Ali is the owner of the house and the father of slain Hamas activist Mohammed Haj Ali, Jamain residents told AFP.

The army said Mohammed had been involved in anti-Israeli attacks, citing a December 12, 2001 shooting spree against a bus that left 11 killed and 20 wounded.

Mohammed's father told AFP the army had blown up the top floor of the two-storey building, leaving the ground floor intact.

He said the 13-member family would now move to the bottom floor.

In the southern West Bank, in the village of Izna near Hebron, the army bulldozed the house of Mohammed al-Batran.

The man was not known to be an activist and the army could not immediately confirm the information.

Military sources said 13 Palestinians had been arrested in the West Bank overnight.

Close to 200 houses have been destroyed by the army since August 2002, mostly belonging to resistance activists and as a deterrent to future attacks.

Rights organizations charge this policy amounts to collective punishment as Palestinian homes are typically inhabited by large families.

Arabs Press for 'War Crimes' Condemnation of Israel

On the political level, meanwhile, Arab states Friday pressed for Israeli actions against Palestinians to be condemned as war crimes by the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), but the move was met with opposition, delegates said.

The Arab bloc pushed their case on the sidelines of the NAM meetings, in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, ahead of a summit by the leaders of the developing world next week. A separate statement on the Palestinian issue is expected to be released at the end of the summit Tuesday, February 25.

Delegates trying to reconcile differences over a draft statement before it is finalized for submission to the foreign ministers' meeting Saturday said there was disagreement over the use of the term "war crimes".

A copy of the draft, presented by the Palestinian observer mission at the United Nations and obtained by AFP, strongly condemns "the war crimes and systematic human rights violations that have been committed by Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people."

The draft says legal remedies could be sought through the International Criminal Court.

A diplomat from an African nation who attended Friday's session said "Arab bloc" countries were pushing for the text to be adopted.

However, the delegate said several states, including some from Latin America and Africa, voiced opposition to the language of the statement, pointing out that NAM was in no position to decide whether Israel's actions could be called war crimes.

"There is difficulty for some delegates to accept that. We in NAM as a political body should not make that judgment. We're not a judicial body," the diplomat told AFP.

"All of us would be sensitive to have NAM make a judgment on Israel because we are not a legal body. We're a political body.

"We can express concern about the allegations of war crimes but I do not know we can say that what is happening there is a war crime."

He said no country had actively pushed for a war crimes trial of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but one Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP that declaring Israeli actions war crimes was a step toward seeking a trial.

The Southeast Asian diplomat cited a ruling by a Belgium appeals court earlier this month upholding a far-reaching law against war crimes that paves the way or Sharon to be prosecuted.

The court ruled that officials such as the Israeli leader can be prosecuted for the world's worst crimes - but only after they leave office.