Israeli occupation soldiers and Palestinians fought gunbattles near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip  on Tuesday, which left one Palestinian dead, as violence in the region intensified. Palestinian security officials reported the man's death near Neve Dekalim settlement before dawn but said it was not clear whether he had been involved in the fighting.

An Israeli military source said occupation soldiers had fired at two armed men, hitting one of them, during the clash.

At least five Palestinians have been killed in about 24 hours in violence which has surged since activists killed four Jewish students at the weekend.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, an adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat , said the escalating violence was a deliberate Israeli policy before a January 28 Israeli general election.

"This is a typical Israeli policy: more escalation in order to ruin all the chances of peace and to put obstacles in front of the road map," he said, referring to a plan by international mediators to calm the violence and restart peace negotiations.

The new bloodshed coincided with large rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to mark the anniversary of the establishment of Arafat's Fatah  faction in 1965.

Thousands of Palestinians packed a public square in Gaza on Tuesday. Thousands more, carrying flags and Arafat's picture, gathered in Ramallah, where the Palestinian leader has been largely holed up under an Israeli occupation army reoccupation of the city.

At least 1,755 Palestinians and 675 Israelis have been killed since the start of a Palestinian uprising against occupation in September 2000.

ISRAELI RESERVISTS LOSE LEGAL BATTLE

In a legal battle on the sidelines of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has raged for 27 months, eight reserve occupation soldiers lost an appeal to Israel's High Court to legitimize their refusal to serve in the occupied territories.

A three-judge panel said it could not back the idea of "selective conscientious objection," declaring such a policy could loosen the bonds that hold Israelis together.

The occupation army had argued it would harm the security of the Jewish state as it fights the Palestinian revolt.

Late on Monday, a 17-year-old Palestinian was pronounced dead in hospital in Hebron after he was beaten by occupation soldiers who stopped him for a curfew violation, Palestinian officials said.

The occupation army spokesman had no immediate comment. A military source said the teenager's family had filed a complaint with Israeli civilian police in the divided city.

Also on Monday, occupation troops killed a Hamas resistance activist who fought a gunbattle with them after infiltrating Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army and Palestinian sources said.

In the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses said occupation soldiers also shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian man during a clash in the city of Nablus and a 37-year-old teacher whose car was in a collision with an occupation army jeep near the town of Jenin.

An occupation army spokesman said that after the collision the driver emerged holding an object which occupation soldiers "mistakenly identified as a gun" and they shot him. The occupation army said it was investigating.

The United States has sought to calm the Middle East violence as it prepares for a possible war against Iraq.

In an interview with Israel's Occupation army radio, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan  said he saw no room for a U.S. military strike on Iraq before U.N. inspectors present their report on Iraqi weapons to the world body in late January.

Annan also said there was no justification for Iraq to attack Israel in the event of a U.S.-led war, as it did during the 1991 Gulf War .

"I hope that Iraq will not attack Israel," he said. "That big mistake was made last time around and I can understand why Israel would want to protect itself and will be preparing its population."

PHOTO CAPTION

Friends of 17-year-old Palestinian Imran Abu Hamdeieh Gheit carry his body during a funeral procession in the West Bank city of Hebron December 31, 2002. Late on Monday, Imran was pronounced dead after he was beaten by occupation soldiers who stopped him for a curfew violation, Palestinian officials said. An Israeli occupation army spokesman had no immediate response to the youth's death. (Loay Abu Haykel/Reuter