NABLUS, West Bank - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas accused Israel of violating a ceasefire agreement after undercover troops Thursday shot dead a militant during an arrest operation in the northern West Bank.
As the death of the Al-Aqsa Brigades fighter threatened to undermine efforts to draw a line under the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas also ordered a reorganisation of his sprawling security services designed to end the lawlessness on the streets of the Palestinian territories.
Fellow members of the Brigades vowed to avenge Ibrahim Smeri's death after he was killed in the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus.
Israeli sources said Smeri, the first Palestinian to be killed by troops in the West Bank in more than a month, had been planning a shooting attack in Jerusalem and responded to an attempt to arrest him by opening fire at the soldiers.
The soldiers returned fire, wounding the 23-year-old who died shortly afterwards despite receiving treatment at an army post, the sources said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas both announced an end to more than four years of hostilities at a landmark summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on February 8.
Israel also pledged to end search operations for wanted militants, except those regarded as imminent threats or "ticking bombs."
Palestinian militant groups such as Al-Aqsa, which had been observing an unofficial "quiet period" since late January, agreed last month at talks in Cairo to extend the truce until the end of the year.
Abbas told journalists that the shooting was "a totally unjustified violation of the arrangements from Sharm el-Sheikh", while his national security advisor Jibril Rajub accused "certain circles within Israel of looking for pretexts to carry out such actions to sabotage the truce".
In Balata, a stronghold of the Brigades, a local leader of the organisation vowed that his men would "respond" to the shooting.
"This assassination is a clear violation of the Israeli ceasefire," Ala Sanekri told AFP.
Around 50 members of the Brigades vowed to "avenge the death of the martyr" as they gathered outside Nablus's Rafidya hospital where his body was transferred.
The truce has so far proved less than watertight.
After Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian youths in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, militants fired more than 70 rockets and mortars at Israeli positions in the occupied territory.
The United States and Israel have both been pushing Abbas to crack down on militants, arguing that the sprawling nature of the Palestinian security apparatus was hampering any such initiative.
In an apparent gesture to the US, Abbas issued orders Thursday for a reorganisation of the security services, placing all branches except intelligence under the control of a close ministerial ally.
Around a dozen services, including police and national security, will merge into two separate branches which will both come under the overall control of the interior and national security ministry, headed by General Nasr Yussef.
However, the intelligence service will remain under the control of the office of the president of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas.
The Palestinian Authority has announced plans to streamline the number of security services on a number of occasions but previous edicts have proved largely theoretical.
The latest announcement was made by Abbas following a meeting with General William Ward, Washington's newly appointed Middle East security coordinator.
"We have announced our intention on several occasions to unify the security services and a decree reducing them to three has been published today," Abbas said.
Restructuring of the security services is seen as crucial to attempts by Abbas to put an end to the armed chaos which has plagued the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Profiting from the steady collapse of the security services' authority and efficiency, armed groups have come to operate increasingly at will.
04/14/2005 15:20 GMT