Darouza was shot dead by Israeli troops for covering the truth

Additional Reporting by Samer Khuwayera, IOL Palestine Correspondent

NABLUS, West Bank, April 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As Israel comes under international diatribe for targeting reporters and peace activists, a Palestinian cameraman was killed by Israeli gunfire Saturday morning, April 19, as he was filming clashes in the central Casbah district of this northern West Bank city.

“An Israeli soldier stepped out of his tank and shot dead Darwozah (a 42-year-old cameraman working for Palestine television and Associated Press (AP) news agency), crashing his skull into pieces,” ground cameramen from different news agencies told IslamOnline.net on Saturday.

“He was dressing a press jacket and stood up right in front of an Israeli tank, ready with his camera, and told the Israeli soldiers loudly that he was a journalist… but to no avail,” a Palestinian journalist told IslamOnline.net.

A father of five children, Darwozah was the third journalist killed since the start of the Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation in September 2000.

On April 8, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) charged that the attacks on reporters were possible crimes of war.

Last July, Imad Zahran, 35, a stringer for a Palestinian daily, was killed by Israeli fire in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.

In March 2002, Italian photographer Raffaele Ciriello was killed by Israeli fire in Ramallah, Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Darwazi's death brings the overall toll since the Intifada began to 3,164, including 2,382 Palestinians and 724 Israelis.

Palestinian medics also said that five Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber bullets during Saturday’s clashes.

On Friday, April 18, Israeli occupation troops stormed Ravidia district in Nablus and arrested three Palestinians: Zuheer Mohammed Mustafa, 32, his sister Ra’eda, 20, and her fiancé Nu’aman Abdullah Sama’na, 21.

Israel accuses Ra’eda of being an activist in the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas.

Meanwhile, a stick of dynamite was thrown at the home of an official of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the south Lebanon Refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh early Saturday, camp officials said.

Gunfire was heard after the blast outside the home of Jamil Zeidan, which caused neither casualties nor damage, the officials added.

Since August, dozens of bomb or grenade attacks have been recorded in Ain el-Helweh and the nearby Miyeh-Miyeh camp on the outskirts of the port of Sidon.

Israel Puts Conditions To Ease Bolckade

In the meantime, an Israeli official told AFP that Israel was ready to “ease” the blockade on the occupied territories if Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) reins in Palestinian resistance groups.

“If Abu Mazen has real powers and undertakes the war on terrorism by inspiring respect for law and order, we will be ready to ease the blockade, release prisoners and speed up the transfer of funds we owe the Palestinians,” the official told AFP Friday, April 18, requesting anonymity.

The official also said the Israeli army could move out of towns in the West Bank it has occupied since June last year in response to “suicide” bombings “if the Palestinians take responsibility for ensuring law and the order.”

The comments came as the occupation army maintained its week-long blockade imposed Wednesday on the Palestinian territories ahead of the Jewish Passover festival to prevent a repeat of last year's martyrdom operation by a Hamas fighter that killed 29 Israelis in the coastal resort of Netanya during the holiday period.

Abu Mazen is viewed by Washington and Israel as a moderate, notably for his calls for a demilitarization of the 30-month Palestinian Intifada and a return to a political track.

Since his appointment on March 19, the Palestine Liberation Organization's number two has been trying to form a new government, but has encountered numerous problems. He now has until April 24 to announce a new line-up.