GAZA/RAMALLAH, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Violence between Israel and the Palestinians flared up on Sunday, two days before an international peace conference scheduled for Tuesday in Annapolis, Maryland in the United States.
Three Palestinian militants were killed, and seven others were injured in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during armed clashes with Israeli soldiers. Over 35 people were arrested in the West Bank, medics and witnesses said.
Palestinian witnesses said dozens of Israeli soldiers backed by armored vehicles stormed Marba' at Hanoun neighborhood in the town and exchanged fire with Fatah movement armed wing al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
The witnesses said that during the clashes, a special Israeli army force stormed a cafe in the neighborhood and opened fire at five members of the group, adding that one was killed and four wounded.
Medics said the killed was Mohamed Quozah, and he was taken to a hospital in the town along with the four injured. Residents said that Israeli soldiers stormed houses in the town and detained at least 25 people, before the operation ended and the soldiers pulled out from the town.
Israel had reoccupied most of the West Bank towns and villages in 2002, when it carried out the Defensive Shield operation. Three weeks ago, Israel handed over the security in the city of Nablus to the Palestinian security forces.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian militants during clashes in the east of al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, medical sources and witnesses said.
The witnesses said the Israeli undercover forces entered the border area before Palestinian fighters discovered them. The two sides exchanged fire, resulting in the deaths of the two gunmen and the injury of three others.
The dead were identified as Hussein Moussa, a member of the Islamic Jihad's military wing, and Alaa al-Zeri'I from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).
On Saturday, the Israeli army killed two brothers when they approached Erez crossing point in northern Gaza Strip.
In northern Gaza, three members of Hamas' police have been wounded when an Israeli missile landed near them on Sunday afternoon, witnesses and medical sources said.
The witnesses said the Israeli army had fired a ground-to-ground rocket into northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya after militants launched a home-made rocket into Israel from there.
The policemen were not far from the place where the Israeli rocket hit and were seriously wounded by shrapnel, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Mohamed al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader lamented the escalation of violence, saying "killing three Palestinians, wounding seven and detaining more than 35 people is the Israeli reward to the Palestinians before Annapolis."
"Instead of joining in conferences of failure and concessions, all the Palestinian people should be united under the name of holy resistance against the Zionist occupation," al-Hindi said in a news conference.
In Gaza, representatives of militant groups announced in a joint news conference here that they were intending to escalate attacks on Israel before Annapolis conference is held.
Spokesmen of several opposition militant groups told reporters that the only response to "going to such weak conference of failure and concession is to intensify resistance against the occupation."
About 200 people also gathered outside the parliament building in Gaza calling on President Mahmoud Abbas not to make any concessions to Israel at the Annapolis conference.
In a bid to jump-start the long-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, U.S. President George W. Bush decided to host the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis on Nov. 27, and some 49countries, institutions and individuals, including some select Arab states and key nations with a stake in the Mideast peace process were invited.
However, neither Israelis nor the Palestinians hold much high expectations for the meeting as weeks of intense talks between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have failed to produce a joint statement for the meeting to serve as basis for final status talks.
