Two Palestinian resistance men killed two Israelis in the West Bank's Jordan Valley before being shot dead on Thursday in a fresh surge of Middle East violence ahead of an anticipated U.S.-led peace drive.Details of the attack near the Jewish settlement of Bekaot in the northern West Bank were sketchy, but Israeli security sources said eight other Israelis had been wounded. Israel Radio reported that the shooting had occurred near an army base.

Israeli occupation army forces killed the two attackers, a military source said. Jordan Valley regional council leader David Levy said troops were in pursuit of a possible third resistance man .

"There are still intensive searches in the area," he told occupation Army Radio.

Violence in a 30-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence had tapered off somewhat since the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq on March 20.

But fighting has been on the rise this week. Israeli military strikes and raids in the Gaza Strip have killed 12 Palestinians in the last two days, including a senior military leader of the Islamic group Hamas.

PEACE "ROAD MAP"

The new bloodshed runs counter to Washington's calls for calm before it introduces a long-delayed program for Middle East peacemaking in the aftermath of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

President Bush has pledged to focus on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, stalled since mid-2000, once U.S. and British invasion forces topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein .

The prospect of peace moves appeared closer to fruition on Thursday, a day after U.S. invasion troops took control of parts of Baghdad and cheering Iraqis toppled a statue of Saddam.

Bush has said he will present a peace "road map," prescribing the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, once the Palestinian legislature confirms a new reformist cabinet under prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas, a leading moderate.

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat gave Abbas two more weeks to form a cabinet amid signs of disputes over the approach to democratic reforms of Palestinian security services to curb violence.

At least 1,985 Palestinians and 729 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after negotiations on a Palestinian state froze.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli tanks roll along a main road in Beit Hanun, north of Gaza City(AFP/Mohammed Saber)