Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a boy of six, in a major West Bank raid on Monday that came in sharp counterpoint to the planned launch in Geneva of a symbolic Middle East peace accord.

Israeli soldiers blow-up a Palestinian house in the West Bank city of Ramallah, December 1, 2003. Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a six-year-old boy, in a major West Bank raid on Monday that came in sharp counterpoint to the planned launch in Geneva of a symbolic Middle East peace accord. [Reuters]

The push into Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's base city Ramallah also coincided with a U.S. diplomatic mission that won an Israeli pledge to start removing Jewish settler outposts as required by an internationally-backed "road map" peace plan.

An Israeli army spokesman said special forces killed three Islamic militants who had opened fire at them. One of the militants perished in a five-story block demolished on top of him after he refused to come out and surrender, witnesses said.

Palestinian medics said the boy died after being shot in the head by Israeli troops around midday in a Ramallah refugee camp. Military sources said soldiers had clashed with stone-throwers near the site and the shooting was under investigation.

In house-by-house searches, soldiers arrested 30 members of the Islamist group Hamas wanted in connection with 10 bombings that had killed 68 people in Israel, security sources said.

Troops also blew up three buildings used to make or hide explosives before withdrawing, an army spokesman said.

The violence flared just before the roll-out in Switzerland of the alternative peace pact hatched by Israeli left-wing opposition figures and Palestinian politicians, raising pressure on those in power to stop fighting and start talking in earnest.

In Cairo, the start of Egyptian-brokered talks with militant leaders on arranging a cease-fire were put off from Tuesday until later in the week for security and technical reasons.

Militants served notice that a truce proclamation was unlikely unless Israel did the same. New moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie wants to present a militant commitment to a truce to Israel for its agreement.

Israel said the Ramallah incursion aimed to forestall further attacks on Israelis, again accusing Arafat's Palestinian Authority of failing to rein in militants.

Palestinian officials said such raids risked stalling the new flurry of peacemaking for they only provoked militants to hit back. Violence has diminished since October but Israel still cites frequent intelligence alerts of planned militant strikes.

ENVOY'S VISIT YIELDS ISRAELI PLEDGE ON OUTPOSTS

U.S. envoy William Burns was in the region trying to clear hurdles to resuming the "road map" process, urging the two sides to go ahead with a meeting between Qurie and Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon held up by jockeying over preconditions.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Burns in a meeting that six to 10 small West Bank settlement outposts would be dismantled, a government source told Reuters.

The road map, which charts steps to a Palestinian state by 2005, stipulates that Israel remove more than 100 outposts -- caravan clusters on hilltops -- and stop expanding 145 established, suburban-style settlements in occupied territory.

"We share the hope that there is a moment before us when we can begin to renew movement on the basis of the road map," Burns told reporters. "It is not going to be easy."

U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said military action like Israel's thrust into Ramallah was unhelpful. "What both parties should do now is their utmost to create the confidence necessary to bring them back to the table," he said.

In Geneva, those who drafted the symbolic treaty hoping to bridge the intransigence of incumbents on both sides assembled along with foreign dignitaries for a glitzy dedication ceremony.

The plan has been hailed by dozens of senior political figures worldwide but called subversive by Sharon. Arafat and Qurie have approved the initiative but not endorsed the details.

The "Geneva Accord" also prescribes a Palestinian state but goes well beyond the road map in mandating the evacuation of most settlements and giving Israel the right to decide how many Palestinian refugees from past wars to take back.

Militants have blasted the deal for waiving Palestinians' claim to a "right of return" to homes in what is now Israel.

A poll released on Monday showed more Israelis were warming to the accord, with 31 percent in favor and 37 percent against compared with 25 percent and 54 percent respectively in October.

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