RAMALLAH, West Bank, November 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Palestinian Parliament approved the new cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei in a vote of confidence here Wednesday, November 12, as two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip.

Getting the approval by narrow majority, the new government is to be sworn immediately afterward, Al-Jazeera reported.

Qorei called on the lawmakers before the vote that an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire should be clinched with Israel, adding that Israeli occupation forces should withdraw from area reoccupied before the Intifada in 2000.

"Civilians on both sides should be spared, and an agreement on a ceasefire should be reached with clear conditions defining the commitments of both parties," Qorei told the session of parliament.

"It is not acceptable to any of us to see the chaos of weapons and shelling among the public," he told the lawmakers.

"Our fate is to live together on this land for us and our dreams, for our sons and grandsons . . . instead of violence and terrorism," he said.

Qorei, whose predecessor Mahmoud Abbas resigned in September 2003, has previously said the securing of a mutual ceasefire would be the top priority of his new government.

Israel has said it will not consider him as a partner for peace unless he is prepared to dismantle the infrastructure of groups such Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which enjoy a broad base of support among Palestinians furious over continued Israeli army aggressions and long-standing occupation.

Qorei also called on Israel to pull out of areas it had Palestinian territories reoccupied since the start of the Intifada to allow elections in June 2004.

Qorei said that his government remained committed to the roadmap peace plan and other agreements signed with Israel.

"Our strategic choice is to stick to peace, to the roadmap and to agreements signed with Israel," he said.

Progress in the internationally-backed blueprint, which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, has ground to a halt in the past three months amid the continuing violence and absence of talks.

In the meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat took the podium, telling the legislators that it was time for both sides to engage in dialogue to end bloodshed.

"It's time for dialogue instead of military means, violence, assassinations and destructions," Arafat told MPs before Qorei's speech.

"It's time for us and you Israelis to get out of this destructive cycle which will not give us or you peace or security," said the Palestinian leader, who had been confined to his Ramallah headquarters for nearly two years by the Israeli army.

The Israeli government decided in principle two months ago to "remove" Arafat from his headquarters, with one minister even suggesting that his assassination was one of the removal options.

Sharon has since said that Israel has no plans to kill Arafat but the 74-year-old said that he lived in daily concern for his life.

"I am telling you and the entire world that my life is threatened day and night by the Israeli government but my life is no more important than that of any Palestinian child," he said.

Arafat also denounced the separation barrier being built by Israel in the West Bank as a "new Berlin Wall".

It is "depriving our people of their land, their rights and independent state and sacred Jerusalem," he said.

On the ground, A member of the Islamic Jihad was killed by Israeli gunfire in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian hospital sources said.

Nahed Kutkot, 27, was shot dead during clashes in the Bureij refugee camp, the sources said.

Also, a Palestinian child died of his injuries sustained during a massive Israeli incursion in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah one day earlier.

Naim Abu Anza was rushed to the hospital after Israeli forces pushed into Block camp, destroying 23 houses and five shops, eyewitnesses told IslamOnline.net.

Anza underwent a surgery after which he breathed his last in the European hospital, said the witnesses.

The incursion continued for seven hours, spreading panic among local inhabitants and leaving many people homeless.

The death brings the overall toll since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian Intifadah against Israeli occupation to 3,609 killed, including 2,694 Palestinians and 849 Israelis, according to an AFP count.