NABLUS, West Bank, 15 April 2005 — Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian fighter in a raid in a West Bank refugee camp yesterday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of violating a cease-fire agreement and a leading militant group vowed retaliation “like an earthquake”, tearing at an already-frayed truce.

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 reorganization of his sprawling security services designed to end the lawlessness on the streets of the Palestinian territories.

The killing of Ibrahim Smeri aggravated tensions in the region. The circumstances of the shooting in Balata camp, a Brigades stronghold near the West Bank city of Nablus, were in dispute. Fellow members of the Brigades vowed to avenge Smeri’s death.

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 afterward despite receiving treatment at an army post, the sources said.

Palestinians said Israeli undercover troops jumped from a car and started shooting without provocation, hitting Smeri in an ensuing gunbattle. Soldiers took him to an Israeli hospital, where he died of his wounds.

“Regarding the criminal Israeli violation, our reaction will be like an earthquake. But we are still committed (to the truce) in accordance with the Palestinian national consensus,” the Brigades spokesman said.

Hamas also threatened to rethink its commitment to the truce. “All parties concerned should intervene to stop Israeli aggression,” Hamas official Ismail Haniyah said. “Otherwise the factions will seriously reconsider the understandings.”

Abbas told journalists that the shooting was “a totally unjustified violation of the arrangements from Sharm El-Sheikh”, while his national security adviser Jibril Rajoub accused “certain circles within Israel of looking for pretexts to carry out such actions to sabotage the truce”.

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.

Abbas issued orders yesterday for a reorganization 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 that will both come under the overall control of the Interior and National Security Ministry, headed by Gen. Nasr Yussef.

However, the intelligence service will remain under the control of the Office of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas.

The announcement was made by Abbas following a meeting with Gen. William Ward, Washington’s newly appointed Middle East security coordinator.

— With input from agencies