A British peace activist chants slogans during a protest at the Rafah refugee camp

GAZA CITY, May 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian Fatah movement, were shot dead Monday, May 12, during an Israeli military incursion at dawn Monday, May 12, into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security and hospital sources said.

They identified the two victims as Mohammed Abu Armana, 18, and Salim Abu Arja, 20, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Two Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli fire during the operation, in which the soldiers used bulldozers to destroy two houses, the sources said.

Israeli troops also killed a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis Monday, Palestinian security sources said.

Hassan al-Astal, 17, was killed by Israeli soldiers guarding the nearby Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal, the sources added.

The death brings to 3,226 the number of people killed since the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation broke out in September 2000, including 2,432 Palestinians and 731 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army announced it closed off the Gaza Strip before dawn Monday, several hours after reopening the borders.

"Taking into account the security considerations it has been decided to impose a total closure of the Gaza Strip until further notice," the army announced in a statement.

The measure in particular will hit 15,000 Palestinian workers who on Sunday had received authorization to return to work in Israel.

On Sunday, Israeli troops abducted three members of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group during an incursion into the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.  

Some 30 Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and jeeps -- backed by two Apache helicopters -- stormed Jenin city and surrounded the house where the three men from the Al-Quds Brigades were holed up, the sources said.

Pacifists Behind Bars  

In another development, five foreign peace activists -- two U.S. nationals and three Britons -- were behind bars Sunday after being arrested by Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

All five are members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group of pro-Palestinian activists who engage in non-violent direct action to protect civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The group was recently blacklisted by the Israeli authorities.

At least one of the five, a U.S. national who was arrested Friday, May 9, during an army raid on the ISM's West Bank headquarters in Beit Sahur near Bethlehem, is facing deportation.

Two more foreign peace activists – U.S. citizen Radhika Sainath and her Northern Irish colleague Charlotte Carson, who were also working with the ISM -- were arrested in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem on Saturday, May 10.  

Both women were brought before a court in Rishon-le-Tzion near Tel Aviv Sunday on charges of "disturbing Israeli soldiers from performing their duties" but the case against them was dismissed after their lawyer succeeded in proving the charge was vindictive.

"The police dropped the charges because I managed to show it was a vindictive charge against non-violent human rights workers whose only purpose was to present human rights violations," their lawyer Shamai Leibowitz told AFP.

But Leibowitz said despite Sunday's success, the two still faced deportation charges at a hearing later this week.

"Our question will be: how can the Ministry of Interior issue this deportation order when the police have dropped the charges?" Leibowitz said.

"We will try and show that this deportation order is motivated by a political agenda which aims to hide what is going on in the territories from international public opinion," he said.

They are barred from flashpoint areas and have to guarantee that they have no links with the ISM "or with any other organization whose aim it is to disrupt IDF operations."

Secret Talks Unveiled

Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian officials held a secret high-level security meeting at the weekend, Israeli public radio reported Sunday, citing Israeli officials.

Israel was represented at Saturday's meeting, whose location and contents were not given, by General Amos Gilad, coordinator of Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories, the radio reported.

The Palestinian Authority was represented by security minister Mohammad Dahlane, it said.

The meeting came as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon to tackle means of implementing the Mideast roadmap peace plan.

Sharon and Abbas could meet Friday, Israeli public television reported late Sunday.