Israeli soldiers kill 4 Palestinians in West Bank

The prime minister is lobbying his party to support withdrawal from Gaza.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli troops killed four Palestinians, one of them armed, in arrest raids in the West Bank, the army said, as Israel's vice premier warned of dire consequences for the country if the ruling Likud party rejects a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was meeting with key Likud activists at his Jerusalem residence today as part of his campaign of persuasion.
In Qalqiliya, Israeli undercover troops entered town in a civilian car and a refrigerator truck and opened fire from close range on a group of eight men standing outside a house, witnesses said. Troops killed three men and seriously wounded a fourth man, Attef Shaaban, the local head of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group with ties to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party.
Witnesses said one of the dead men was Shaaban's deputy. The other two, while Fatah members, were not militants, they said.
The army said all the dead were wanted militants who were shot when they refused to heed calls to stop and warning shots. It was not clear whether the four were armed.
Arrests turn deadly
In the village of Talouza, troops backed by a helicopter gunship came to arrest four wanted militants, the army said. Two of the wanted men opened fire, drawing return fire that killed one man and wounded another. Palestinians said the man killed a bystander.
A poll published today in the Yediot Ahronot daily showed 49 percent of Likud members in favor of the Gaza withdrawal plan, with 39.5 percent against. Of the 620 people polled, 11.5 percent said they were undecided.
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