Fresh clashes in Gaza

Israeli troops have cut the Gaza Strip in half

Israelis and Palestinians have exchanged fire in the Gaza Strip on the eve of US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to the region.

In the West Bank, demonstrators burned an image of Mr Powell and clashed with Israeli troops.

The continued violence came as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement issued a leaflet calling on Palestinian gunmen not to fire at Israeli army posts and settlements from populated Palestinian areas.

Palestinian police came under fire from Israeli tanks

Mr Powell will spend two days in Israel and the Palestinian territories, meeting Mr Arafat and Israel's right-wing Prime Minister-elect, Ariel Sharon.

Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian police position in northern Gaza on Friday in response to Palestinian mortar fire on two Jewish settlements - Alei Sinai and Dugit - the night before.

Palestinians returned fire at Israeli positions.

Following the mortar attack, Israeli troops cut the Gaza Strip in half, preventing Palestinian motorists from using north-south thoroughfares.

Elsewhere in Gaza, a 19-year-old Palestinian was seriously wounded in what witnesses said was an unprovoked shooting by Israeli troops.

Friday also saw Palestinians set off roadside bombs in two places in southern Gaza, reportedly aiming at Israeli army patrols. One soldier was lightly wounded.

Confrontation

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, about 2,000 Palestinians joined an anti-US march.

Demonstrators burned US and Israeli and flags, as well as a cardboard model of a missile with pictures of Mr Powell, President George W Bush and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak pasted on the sides.

After the march, dozens of demonstrators hurled stones at Israeli troops who responded with rubber-coated steel bullets. Ten Palestinians were hurt.

Later, gunmen in the crowd shot at Israeli troops, who returned fire.

About 400 people have died in Israeli-Palestinian violence since last October, the majority of them Palestinians.

Return fire

Fatah's leaflet urges Palestinian gunmen not to draw return fire from Israeli army posts and settlements into populated Palestinian areas.

It follows the death of an 18-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla on Tuesday night when an Israeli shell hit his house.

The Israeli army said it had opened fire on Palestinian gunmen in Beit Jalla, from where the Jewish settlement of Gilo is often targetted.

Ahead of his meeting with Mr Powell on Sunday, Mr Sharon said Israel and the US needed to concentrate on common issues - including a co-ordinated struggle against terrorism.

"In the past too much focus was placed on the peace process, which is very important, but as a result, bilateral relations suffered," he said.