Palestinian resistance men killed an Israeli woman settler in the West Bank on Monday as Israeli plans to bolster security in Hebron stirred land-grab fears among Palestinians in the predominantly Palestinian ancient city. Esther Galia, 48, from the settlement of Kochav Hashachar, was ambushed as she drove near Ramallah, seat of Palestinian power in the West Bank, the Israeli occupation army said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Palestinian resistance activists have targeted internationally illegal Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian lands during a two-year uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Tensions simmered into the night, with witnesses reporting a brief Israeli occupation army raid into the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the first in almost three months. In Gaza, troops wounded two Palestinian resistance activists who tried to cross the border with Israel. The violence followed a Palestinian ambush in Hebron on Friday that killed nine occupation soldiers and three settlers on a trail Jewish worshippers use to reach a holy site in the center of the West Bank city.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded by proposing to build corridors for settlers that would snake through Hebron, although this could entail razing Palestinian homes and heighten tensions as the United States tries to keep the region calm before a possible attack on Iraq. Washington urged restraint.

"This is a crime," said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. He said Israel was out to "Judaise" Hebron, a biblical city divided into Palestinian- and Israeli-controlled sectors under a 1997 interim peace deal.

Israeli occupation army sources said troops arrested at least 22 suspected resistance activists in the West Bank on Monday, including two in Hebron where 450 ultra-nationalist, well-armed settlers live in guarded enclaves among 130,000 Palestinians.

SHOW OF FORCE BEFORE POLITICAL SHOWDOWN

With a showdown looming against hawkish Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for leadership of the right-wing Likud party, Sharon was bolstered on Monday by the endorsement of new Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former chief of military staff.

In another sign that Sharon would put security at the top of his campaign against Netanyahu, Israeli forces attacked a Palestinian security agency's headquarters in Gaza, saying it contained munitions. Palestinian officials denied the charge.

SHARON SLAMS SHARON'S SECURITY PLAN FOR HEBRON

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres slammed Sharon's security blueprint for Hebron, whose Palestinian sector was reoccupied by Israeli forces after the ambush. The plan "will only increase friction," Peres told Israel Radio.

His center-left Labour party holds a primary election on Tuesday to pick a new leader ahead of an Israeli general election on January 28. Opinion polls show dovish ex-general Amram Mitzna easily unseating incumbent Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister.

A surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence has eclipsed the other key election issue, Israel's sick economy.

A suspected hijack attempt by an Israeli Arab on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul on Sunday added to Israelis' security concerns.

PHOTO CAPTION

Jewish settlers escorted by the Israeli occupation soldiers erect a concrete barrier along the route used by settlers to walk to prayers inside the West Bank city of Hebron, November 18, 2002. (Nayef Hashlamoun/Reuter