JENIN, West Bank (AFP) - The fourth anniversary of the Palestinian uprising was marked with violence as a Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire and the hunt intensified for an Arab Israeli journalist kidnapped in Gaza.
Saleh Bilalu, a 47-year-old mentally-ill man, was killed in the northern West Bank city of Jenin after he violated an army curfew imposed on the town where troops were conducting a search and arrest operation for the second straight day.
Palestinian security sources said Bilalu had been hit by Israeli fire in the stomach while Israeli military sources insisted he had been shot in the leg and subsequently fell off the roof of a building.
His death took the total number of people reported killed since the start of the intifada or uprising against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to 4,345, including 3,326 Palestinians and 948 Israelis.
The revolt was sparked by the then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to Jerusalem's disputed Al-Aqsa mosque compound on September 28, 2000.
And Israel's policies in the territories came under fire from four senior officers of an elite air force unit who described the military's action as "immoral" in a letter published by Israeli newspapers Tuesday.
The four, while stressing their loyalty to the Israeli military and the elite Sahaldag force they serve in, said they considered house demolitions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as "immoral collective punishment operations."
They said they wanted to spark debate about particular sorts of operation which they said amounted to "harassment of innocent civilians" although they distanced themselves from refuseniks in the military who refuse to serve in the territories as a protest against Israeli policies, saying they remained ready to do their duty.
At Al-Aqsa on Tuesday, there were no extra security measures in force, although the site recently made the headlines when Israel warned that the shrine may soon collapse and said the number of worshippers may have to be limited.
Both Jordan and Egypt have dismissed the claims while Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Ekrima Sabri charged that the report was "a justification" for Israel to put its hand on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.
The site is also revered by Jews as it was once the site of the Jewish temple, the holiest shrine in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
In Gaza City, Palestinian security services were intensifying the hunt for CNN producer Riad Ali who was kidnapped at gunpoint from a car on Monday.
"As soon as he was informed of Riad Ali's abduction, president (Yasser) Arafat ordered the security services to do everything they can to ensure he is quickly freed safe and sound," an official in Arafat's office told AFP.
"The president is personally following up this matter," he added.
A security official said he had "received firm instructions from president Arafat to help release the hostage and make the culprits answer for this reprehensible crime".
"Security services are doing their utmost to find out who is behind the abduction and try to gather information and evidence on possible suspects," he added.
Israel's deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert charged that Arafat was in position to secure Ali's release if he wanted to.
"I don't known exactly to what extent Arafat has control over killers in the territories, but it's obvious that he deliberately chose to sow arnarchy and that if he wanted to, he could prevent such kidnappings and allow for Riad Ali's liberation," he told public radio.
"This abduction shows that the situation is further deteriorating in the territories where incredible anarchy rules," he added.
Gunmen abducted Ali in Gaza City's central al-Rimal neighborhood Monday night, whisking him away to an unknown destination.
It was the first time a journalist had been kidnapped in the Palestinian territories.
Disgruntled former security men and militants angry at alleged graft in the Palestinian leadership had abducted several Palestinian officials last summer, triggering a political and security crisis.