HIGHLIGTSIsrael quashes prison protest|| Dramatic Scenes at Barghouti's Murder Trial|| Israeli President Calls for "new strategy" as Death Toll Rises|| Rejection of Arab Candidates Shows Limits of Israeli Democracy: Egypt|| STORYThe burned body of an settler killed by a Palestinian resistance group was found Thursday in the Jordan Valley, hours after Israeli occupation forces shot dead a Palestinian resistance man in a house siege in northern Israel.

The latest deaths came as Israeli tanks staged overnight raids in Palestinian towns in the Gaza Strip, destroying houses and arresting suspects.

Occupation authorities found the charred body near the missing man's burned-out car near Beqaot, an internationally illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank's northern Jordan Valley, where hundreds of occupation had concentrated their search for Massud Alon, missing since Wednesday.

The family identified the body.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said in a statement it had killed Alon, a resident of Tiberias in northern Israel who had regular business dealings with Palestinians and with Jewish settlers.

Israel Quashes Prison Protest

Israeli guards have clashed with Palestinian detainees at a prison camp in the West Bank.

Guards used tear gas to break up a protest by prisoners, reportedly wounding several Palestinians, at the Ofer camp, near Ramallah.

Violence erupted at the Ofer camp when Palestinian detainees set fire to their shelters in a protest against mistreatment, according to a Palestinian prisoners group.

An Israeli occupation army source said: "There was a disturbance and an army force at the camp used tear gas to disperse the violent demonstration."

Several Palestinians needed treatment for gas inhalation.

About 700 prisoners are being held at the camp, many of whom have been detained in connection with the intifadha.

An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, said on Thursday that more than 1,000 Palestinians are being held by Israel without charge, the highest number for more than a decade.

Barghouti's Trial

In Israel, there were dramatic scenes at the murder trial of a former leader of the Palestinian intifadha (uprising), Marwan Barghouti, as he was dragged - handcuffed and on his back - out of court after a confrontation with relatives of his alleged victims.

Families of Mr. Barghouti's alleged victims shouted: "You killed my children, murderer."

But as Mr. Barghouti tried to flash a victory sign, he fell to the floor and was dragged away.

Mr. Barghouti, an instigator of the intifadha, is charged with murdering 26 Israelis and belonging to a "terror organization".

Israeli President Calls for "new strategy" as Death Toll Rises

Israeli President Moshe Katsav made a powerful call for a "new strategy" to end more than two years of violence that has cost close to 3,000 lives, the latest of which was Masud Alon.

"I don't see a solution to the problem of terrorism coming from the left nor the right. We need a new strategy," Katsav, a former member of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party, told occupation army radio

"The time has come to examine whether Israel is heading in the right direction," the president said without suggesting what this new direction might be.

Palestinian factions are also due to meet soon in Cairo to examine where their 27-month armed struggle against Israeli occupation has left them, with their economy in ruins and more than 2,000 of their people dead.

Rejection of Arab Candidates Shows Limits of Israeli Democracy: Egypt

In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said on Thursday that Israel's ban on two Arab deputies from the upcoming elections over their support for the Palestinian cause reveals the limits of Israeli democracy.

"This shows it's a democracy conditioned by the fact that everybody agrees with the opinions of extremists in Israel," Maher told journalists who asked for his opinion on the Israeli electoral commission's decision earlier this week.

The right-wing dominated commission banned deputies Ahmed Tibi and Azmi Bishara from seeking reelection in Israel's January 28 legislative elections because of their alleged support for attacks on Israelis.

Maher said the decision "is a response to those who claim that Israel is the only democracy in the region.

"So where is the democracy they're talking about? It is normal that Arab deputies sympathize with their Arab brothers," Maher said.

The Egyptian minister denounced the Israeli "attempts to silence the voice of the Arabs and oppress them."

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli investigator examines the burned wreckage of a car belonging to slain Israeli settler Massoud Elon, 70, at the site where his badly-burned body was found, near the West Bank settlement of Beqaot, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2003. (AP Photo/Pave