The incident happened near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which has long been a source of tension in Hebron.

Earlier, a 16-year-old was killed in a village near Nablus. The Israeli military said the youth had thrown petrol bombs and a pipe bomb at troops.

Overnight in the northern West Bank, Israeli troops arrested 29 wanted people they say are members of Hamas, the militant Islamist group that heads the Palestinian Authority.

However, the six-day-old truce in Gaza is holding.

The Israeli army says that 14 rockets have been fired into Israel since the truce was declared.

No Israelis were injured by the rockets and the Israeli army has not responded.

'Small opening'

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a small opening exists for a resumption of peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.

Speaking after talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, she said the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip should be strengthened and extended.

Ms Rice said that hopefully all sides could take advantage of the moment to move towards the goal of two states living peacefully side-by-side.

But she added: "This is the sort of thing that takes time - you don't expect great leaps forward, you expect progress and I think we've seen some progress."

In turn, Arab ministers from Egypt, Jordan and the six Gulf states have urged Ms Rice to encourage Israel to soften its security measures in the West Bank.

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that talks on forming an unity government with Hamas had ""unfortunately reached a dead end".

An aide to Mr Abbas, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said that the Palestinian leader was preparing new "political measures" to deal with the failure of these talks.

Palestinians factions have been trying to form a unity government, in which Hamas takes a back seat, in the hope that this will allow international donors to lift a financial embargo on the Palestinian Authority.

The man, Haytem Yasin, 25, was shot in the stomach and severely injured while visiting relatives in Palestine. Yasin was shot after apparently questioning the soldiers' invasive search techniques of female Palestinians passing through the checkpoint. According to Israeli sources, he is now being treated for major abdominal injuries in a hospital in the Israeli settlement of Petah Tikva.

The Israeli human rights group B'tselem reported that Yasin was first pushed by the soldier after making a comment about the searches. Then, according to eyewitness accounts, two other soldiers joined in hitting Yasin, knocking him to the ground and continuing to beat and kick him, then throwing him against the cement blocks around the checkpoint. After the soldiers had handcuffed him, they continued to beat and kick the man, and finally shot him in the stomach.

Yasin had been visiting Palestine from Algeria, where he lives with his parents.

Abuse at checkpoints is a common practice by Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups who monitor the situation.

Rice, for her part, expressed a commitment by the US to see a "just achievement" for the Palestinian people, which she said would come in the form of a two-state solution, with a viable, independent and democratic Palestinian state -- although she did not specify whether that state would include a return of land illegally seized by Israel or the city of Jerusalem - two key issues for the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, inside Israel, the Israeli Cabinet met with military officials who advised a return to violence, and a continuation of the daily Israeli invasions and attacks in the Palestinian West Bank.

Israeli military sources reported that Palestinian resistance groups have not entirely adhered to the ceasefire, having fired 14 homemade shells into the Israeli desert from Gaza since the ceasefire was declared Sunday. The shells did not kill or hurt any Israelis. Palestinians point out that Israeli ceasefire violations have been much more severe - that at least five Palestinians have been killed, and a dozen more injured, by Israeli forces invading the West Bank. Among those killed are an elderly woman and a child.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated the the Prime Minister would be willing to extend the ceasefire, but only if the homemade shells fired by the Palestinian resistance come to a complete halt. Thousands of Palestinian security are in place in the border areas in Gaza to try to prevent shells from being fired by rogue factions into Israel.

But the military officials advising the Israeli Cabinet today advised against extending the ceasefire, saying that their ongoing invasions and attacks in the West Bank have actually prevented Palestinians who had planned to attack Israel.

Many of the Palestinians that have been taken prisoner in the Israeli raids have never been charged with anything, and maintain that Israel picked them up merely to maintain a pretense that their invasions are legitimate. With no way to present the evidence of their innocence in Israeli courts, these prisoners of war have no hope that they will be given a day in court to disprove that Israeli charge.

The following is full text of Danesh-Yazdi's address to the 61st UN General Assembly session, that had been held on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People:

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,

"Madam President,

"At the very outset and on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I would like to reiterate the solidarity of the Government and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the Palestinian people and Government in their brave struggle to defend their inalienable rights.

"May I take this opportunity to express my delegation's appreciation to the Secretary General for his informative reports and to the Chairman and members of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for their tireless efforts to address the torment and onerous circumstances of the people of Palestine.

"This year's report once again illustrates the uninterrupted and increased violation of the rights and aspiration of the Palestinian people by the Israeli regime, resulting in the deterioration of the situation to an unprecedented and intolerable level.

"As the report indicates, throughout the period under review, the systematic pattern of human rights violations and massive breaches of international law and international humanitarian law by the Israeli regime has continued unabated.

"A fundamental principle of international law, flowing from the United Nations Charter, is the illegality of the acquisition of territory by use of force."

He reminded that, "The occupation of the Arab lands in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, which grossly contravenes this fundamental principle, lies at the heart of the festering crises in the Middle East."

He concluded that, "It gives rise to all illegal and criminal practices by the occupying forces, which all emanate from the inherent dynamics of occupation."

Indiscriminate use of military force, willfully killing and collectively punishing the Palestinians, destroying their homes and infrastructures, trying to economically strangulate them, unrelenting expansion of Jewish settlements on the occupied lands and targeted assassinations, which are all prohibited under the international law, has continued during the year under review.
Indeed, the report documents and records frequent resorts to all these practices by the Israeli regime.

"Madam President,

"The report at hand depicts Israeli brutal military campaigns in Gaza in the last summer, which included aerial bombardments, ground activities, the arrest of Palestinian cabinet ministers and lawmakers, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including the only electric power plant in Gaza, roads and bridges, as well as many other public and private installations.
"The said atrocious crimes have resulted in the killing of over 202 Palestinians, including 40 children.

"According to the report, from September 2005 to August 2006, 450 Palestinians had been killed and over 2,500 wounded, which underscores the ever-present reality of the brutal, violent, and oppressive policies and practices of the occupying regime against the defenseless Palestinian people.
"During the year under review, the Israeli regime implemented a number of cruel restrictive and punitive measures such as checkpoints , curfews and closures that adversely affected the Palestinian lives and in turn have added to their suffering and hardship.

"At the same time, the Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories continued unabated, and the occupiers began the construction of thousands of housing units in the West Bank and Al-Quds.

"The pace of construction of the separation Wall in the West Bank also accelerated during the reporting period.

"In this regard, land expropriation orders were issued by the Israeli regime to allow the extension of the Wall around Al-Quds.

"The Palestinian election, held on 25 January 2006, was a landmark development in the history of the region.

"Nevertheless, the reaction of the Israeli regime and a number of western governments to this important development not only was unproductive and disgraceful, but indeed helped unmask the real face of the kind of democracy that certain quarters in the west seek to extend to the region.

"While 1,000 international observers, including missions from the European Union, the US and Canada observed the conduct of the elections and called it a free and fair process, soon the US and few of its allies embarked on a campaign to deny the results of the elections, undermine the Government emanating there from and subject the Palestinian people to further hardship and suffering for freely expressing their will.

"Madam President,

"The situation in the occupied Syrian Golan is not very different.

"It continues to be another source of tension in the region and the Israelis have thus far indicated that they are not intent on considering a withdrawal from the Golan.

"Rather, they have made repeated attempts to alter the demographic and legal character of the area by establishing new settlements and imposing their laws on Syrian citizens in

contravention of all relevant UN resolutions.

"Moreover, the last summer aggression of the Israeli regime against Lebanon, and its subsequent humiliating defeat, has not stopped this regime to continue threatening the Lebanese people and Government.

"As has been repeatedly indicated by UNIFIL, the Israeli regime continues to occupy the Lebanese lands and to violate Security Council resolution 1701, including through daily violations of Lebanese airspace and harassment of UNIFIL forces.

"Such dangerous practices would undoubtedly create more instability and serve to inflame tension and threaten to further destabalise the situation in that volatile part of the region.

"It is evident that the settlement of the Palestinian issue is imperative and indispensable for the attainment of a comprehensive and lasting peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond.

"Peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved through aggression, state terrorism, intimidation and occupation. It is, indeed, long overdue for the international community to take meaningful measures to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

"The Charter of United Nations has bestowed an immense responsibility upon this world body to help find a fair, just and durable solution to this crisis, which constitutes the core of the Middle East conflict.
"We believe that a durable peace in Palestine will be possible only through the full restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people including the return of all Palestinian refugees to their homeland and establishment of a Palestinian state with Al-Quds -Al -sharif as its capital.

Israel has long maintained that Jewish settlements, which are illegal under international law, were built on "state lands," or areas not registered in anyone's name, and that no private property were being seized for settlement building.

"This report is a harsh indictment against the whole settlements enterprise and the role all Israeli governments played in it," Peace Now said on its Web site.

"The report shows that Israel has effectively stolen privately-owned Palestinian land for the purpose of constructing settlements and in violation of Israel's own laws regarding activities in the West Bank," the movement said.

The Palestinians, who want all the West Bank along with the Gaza Strip for a future state, and human rights groups have long accused Israel of illegally expropriating "state land" for the purpose of building settlements.

According to the report, Palestinians privately own nearly 40 percent of the land on which settlements have been built, and 3,400 buildings have been constructed on those properties.

In addition, more than 50 percent of the land on which settlements have been constructed has been designated "state," or unregistered, land by Israel, Peace Now said.

About 2.4 million Palestinians and 260,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war but stopped short of annexing.

The YESHA settler council, responding to the Peace Now report, said in a statement Israel halted authorizing construction on privately-owned land in the West Bank after a 1979 Israeli court ruling on the issue.

Peace Now said that in spite of court restrictions, Israel continued to build settlement homes on lands it knew to be owned by Palestinians.

Some of the settlement blocs Israeli leaders have said they intend to keep in any final peace deal with the Palestinians have been built in part on private Palestinian land, the report said.

They include the settlements of Maale Adumim, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and Ariel in the central West Bank.

The World Court says settlements Israel has built on occupied territory are illegal. Israel disputes this.

Many Arabic teachers share Bar-On's frustration. More than 50 percent of the Arabic teachers in secondary schools cited the language's low status as the main obstacle in teaching it, a new study of the Henrietta Szold Institute, the National Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, finds.

The survey questioned some 360 teachers in the Jewish school system and examined the feelings of principals and students as well.

Arabic is a compulsory subject in junior high, but only is taught in 80 percent of the schools, the study finds. However, senior Education Ministry sources say that only about two thirds of junior high schools teach Arabic.

"The regulations are not always followed," says the ministry's supervisor for Arabic studies, Shlomo Alon. "The ministry allows for French to be taught in place of Arabic, or Russian in communities with a concentration of new immigrants. A few places teach Amharic as well, and some junior high schools teach no foreign language at all."

Bar-On says that many dedicated teachers encounter not only a reluctance among pupils to study subjects considered impractical, like mathematics or English, but also prejudice and ignorance. "The Arabic language and culture are seen as inferior and primitive," she says.

Only 2009 pupils took the five-unit matriculation exam in Arabic last year, 6 percent fewer than two years earlier. This is a negligible percentage of the Jewish students who took matriculation exams.

"Some of my friends asked what I needed it for," says Yaniv Ninio, a 12th grader from Rosh Ha'ayin studying Arabic. "We are actually studying about another culture. It's important to know the other - both in war and in peace. You can't run away from it and pretend it doesn't exist."

According to the study, 63 percent of the Arabic students in high school said they were studying it because they wanted to "serve in intelligence." Zuf Aragman, also of Rosh Ha'ayin, chose it because she wanted to study another language. "Pupils think that those who study Arabic do it only to get into intelligence, but that's not necessarily true. Languages are among the only things school gives you, because history, for example, I can learn from books," she says.

Some 80 percent of the teachers who participated in the study support adding Arabic to the compulsory matriculation exams. Only about half the principals support this, while the pupils predictedly object. Making the exam in Arabic compulsory would prove that the Education Ministry regards it as an important subject, says Alon. "Arabic must be exactly like literature, civic studies or history."

"If the pupils knew that at the end of the road they had to pass an exam in Arabic, they would doubtless study it much more seriously," says Bar-On. "Every subject that is required for matriculation is taken seriously. It's the only way. Something is wrong here if for so many years the Education Ministry has not succeeded in making it compulsory for pupils to take even a small-scale Arabic exam for matriculation."

The Education Ministry commented: "We are aware of the problem that exists in certain schools, which do not teach Arabic, and we enforce the requirement by means of district instructors and reports to the district directors, who are supposed to oversee study rosters."

"The appointment of Desmond Tutu as head of the fact-finding mission to Beit Hanun is an extension of the anti-Israel kangaroo court tactics used by the UN Human Rights Council," said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.

"No fact-finding mission can produce balanced and trustworthy results if its leader professes to know all the answers beforehand.

"Tutu has already publicly expressed his anti-Israel views and his opinions regarding what happened in Beit Hanun, and combined with the one-sided anti-Israel mandate provided by the resolution, the results of the mission are all-but preordained," he added.

The council, which has censured only Israel in its six-month existence, recently passed a resolution calling for a mission to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults."

Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has spoken out against Israel in the past and publicly denounced the Beit Hanun operation.

"It is an outrage that cries out to heaven and we must condemn it unequivocally as we do the atrocities committed by suicide bombers against Israeli civilians," Tutu said.

Tutu said Thursday he was "honored" that the United Nations had asked him to lead a fact-finding mission. "I hope that our mission will advance the cause of peace and stability for Palestinian and Israeli alike, and contribute to halt the awful carnage and bloodletting," he said.

"I believe fervently that it is possible for Arab and Jew to live amicably together," he added.

Foxman has condemned the UN Human Rights Council - an effort to reform and replace the UN Commission on Human Rights - an "overwhelming failure." The organization has been widely criticized for concentrating its efforts on condemnations of Israel, and Foxman branded its replacement a political tool of its Arab and Muslim majority.

The ADL said the new UN Human Rights Council has "ignored the world's worst human rights atrocities and instead has pursued Israel for political gain."

The 47-member council, which earlier this year replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission, has been severely criticized by some countries, including the United States, for moving four times to condemn Israel but not taking up human rights violations in Myanmar, North Korea or Sudan.

The Council has come under similar criticism from outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"From the day it opened for business, the UN Human Rights Council has never operated with any moral authority," Foxman said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"The Council has failed in its most fundamental purpose: to monitor human rights abuses in all parts of the world. Instead, it has become a political tool wielded by its Arab and Muslim members who have the power of an automatic majority. The Council has ignored the world's worst human rights atrocities and instead has pursued Israel for political gain."

Earlier this month, the Council condemned an IDF artillery attack that killed 20 civilians in the northern Gaza Strip and ordered an on-site investigation by UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour.

The organization made no reference to Palestinian Qassam attacks. But when Arbour visited the area last week, she and her party were nearly hit by a Qassam that slammed into the Negev town of Sderot, in a salvo that killed a local factory worker.

"Closing in on six months since its first meeting, the Council has held one regular session and three special sessions and has yet to address a single state besides Israel," the ADL said in the statement. "The Council passed two resolutions yesterday condemning Israel while ignoring other more pressing problems around the world."

Olmert said Monday during a speech in Sde Boker that Israel would accept a territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank in exchange for Palestinians relinquishing their demand for a return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.

Rice also praised the Gaza cease-fire, as well as Israel's restraint in the face of violations of the truce by Palestinian militants.

"[The cease-fire] must be backed by deeds," said the secretary of state.

"Prime Minister Olmert informed Secretary of State Rice on his meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman regarding the cease-fire, [arms] smuggling and the ongoing efforts to release [captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit," said the statement. "The secretary of state updated the prime minister on her meeting earlier today with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas."

"The two also discussed the Iranian issue," added the statement.

Olmert's chief of staff Yoram Turbowitz, his military adviser, Major General Gadi Shamni, the prime minister's diplomatic adviser, Shalom Turgeman, and his media adviser, Asaf Shariv, also attended the meeting.

The American delegation included U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs C. David Welch and National Security Council Director for Near East and North African Affairs Elliot Abrams.

Following her meeting with Olmert, Rice met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Livni said prior to the meeting that "the prime minister's speech was very important, in which he sent an important message to the Palestinian Authority."

"I believe that there is a diplomatic horizon," she added. "I would like to thank the United States and Secretary Rice on their policy which ensures that terror is not rewarded. I would also like to thank them for on the other hand sending a message to moderates that there is a diplomatic horizon, which strengthens them."

Rice meets Abbas, says Washington to intensify peace efforts

Speaking a press conference with Abbas in Jericho hours earlier, Rice said that Washington wanted to "intensify our efforts" to renew the peace process.

She said that the U.S. has made clear it expects a viable, contiguous Palestinian state when it is created, and that no actions should be taken now to prejudge the outcome of a final peace agreement.

She added that the U.S. is interested in seeing Palestinian Authority reforms of its security services and political institutions.

Meanwhile, Abbas told reporters that talks on a unity government with the ruling Hamas organization had reached a "dead end."

Ahead of the Jericho meeting, an Abbas confidant said he believed the cease-fire and a conciliatory speech by Olmert earlier this week have created new momentum.

"I think it's up to us and the Israelis to make it work," said the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat. "It can work. The opportunity is there."

In Amman on Thursday, Bush appealed for support for Abbas, referring to him by his commonly used nomme de guerre, Abu Mazen.

"Abu Mazen, who I believe wants there to be a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel, deserves the support of the world. And he deserves support in peeling his government away from those who do not recognize Israel's right to exist," Bush said at a news conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Israeli officials said Olmert would emphasize to Rice that pressure must be maintained on the Palestinian leadership to continue isolating Hamas and press for the formation of a Palestinian government that recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts previous peace accords, as the international community has demanded.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas said he didn't think the meeting would help the Palestinian cause.

"Our experience with these meetings and these visits are that they justify more Israeli aggression against our people," Zahar said at a news conference before the Rice-Abbas talks began.

Sources say that Rice's visit to Jerusalem is designed to show American support for the fledgling negotiating process. The process began with the cease-fire that began Sunday, and should presumably lead to setting up a Palestinian national unity government.

In the next stage, the U.S. is expected to help jump-start the political negotiations between Israel and the PA.

Palestinian sources said Rice is expected to ask Abbas and Israel to expand the cease-fire to the West Bank. They will also discuss implementing the border passes agreement that was signed by the U.S., Israel and the PA after Israel's pullout from Gaza.

UN report: Israel violating Gaza border crossing agreement

The visit by Rice is expected to be preceded by the release of an extremely critical report written by the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in the Territories. The report, a copy of which has reached Haaretz, accuses Israel of violating the border crossings agreement's every single clause.

The report says that closing the passes for most of the year catapulted the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip from 33 percent in 2005 to 42 percent this year. Since Shalit's abduction on June 25, the passes have been closed 86 percent of the time, the report says. Since mid-January, the average number of trucks passing through Karni has been 12 a day, while in the agreement Israel had undertaken to raise the number to 400 trucks a day by the end of the year.

Israel also violated its commitment to alleviate the passage of people and merchandise in the West Bank, and to enable the passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In fact, all contact between the two regions has been cut off. The number of roadblocks in the West Bank rose during the past year by 44 percent and Israel divided the West Bank into ten enclaves.

Israel broke its commitment to allow convoys to pass from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and to advance the operation of air and sea ports in the Gaza Strip.

The UN report emphasizes that since the beginning of April, Israel had cited security reasons for most of the closures of the Karni terminal, but that no security breaches had occurred there since April 26.

The cumbersome security arrangements enable only 40 percent of the trucks carrying export goods from the Gaza Strip to go through the border pass. The resulting damage to agricultural exports is estimated to be more than $30 million for this year. The losses incurred to the hothouses purchased from the Gush Katif settlements, resulting from the need to destroy hundreds of tons of strawberries and flowers, reached $6 million.