Palestinians protest Israeli army slaying of Arab

After the Israeli army killed a Palestinian man outside a Jewish settlement on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian police lodged a protest against the Israeli government.

The head of the Palestinian liaison with Israeli army, Colonel Khaled Abu Oleh, rejected Israeli soldiers' claim that the Palestinian was trying to plant a bomb in the Jewish settlement, saying "Israel must not think that Palestinian life is cheap."

The killed man was identified as Rafat al-Bardawil, 22, who worked as a farm hand in the Jewish settlement.

The Israelis said they found an explosive device with a remote-control detonator that al-Bardawil planned to leave in the settlement.

Soldiers have reported finding several such devices in recent weeks along paths used by army patrols guarding a bloc of Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip.

Analysts said that the violence flamed already high tensions between Israelis and Palestinians due to the expansion of Jewish settlements in occupied areas and the 15-month-old deadlock in peace negotiations between the two sides.