RAMALLAH, 23 April 2007 — Violence continued in the Palestinian territories with Israeli troops killing three Palestinians in Ramallah and Nablus yesterday bringing the death toll to nine in two days, Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli soldiers shot Karim Zahran, a 16-year-old high school student near Dair Abu Misha’al village, northwest of Ramallah, early yesterday afternoon. Zahran later died of his sustained wounds.

In West Bank city of Nablus, the Israeli troops killed two Palestinian fighters of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of Fatah, in an armed clash that lasted more than six hours early yesterday. Twenty-one-year-old Amin Libbada and 22-year-old Fadil Nur were killed.

Local witnesses said that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the city of Nablus after midnight in an arrest raid and besieged a house in Karm Ashoor neighborhood in which the two activists were sheltering in.

Earlier, in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that there was still time for international diplomatic efforts to work in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, without the need for military action.

Israel, along with the US and other nations, say Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying its only goal is the peaceful use of nuclear energy to generate electricity.

“The (United Nations) Security Council has passed two resolutions, which impose unprecedented sanctions,” Olmert told Israel Radio. “I think there is a possibility, even without a military operation, to stop Iran from going nuclear.”

He said Iran itself had exaggerated its progress. “Iran is far from crossing the technological threshold,” he said.

In the Israel Radio interview, Olmert also said that last summer’s war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon was painful but succeeded in changing “the rules of the game” in the region.

“The threat is not as it has been for many years. At this moment the northern border is totally quiet,” he said. “The main goal we wanted to achieve, changing the equation, I think it was achieved but at a very heavy price.” He said the time was not yet ripe for peace negotiations with Syria as long as Syrian President Bashar Assad supported Palestinian militants. “We want to have peace with every Arab state, including Syria,” he said. “But...it is not enough to say publicly ‘I want peace,’ you have to act on this.”

In another development, Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson stepped down temporarily to battle allegations of fraud and embezzlement at a previous job. The move was expected since Hirchson had been under investigation for months and was under heavy pressure to quit, and had no negative effect on financial markets.

Olmert will step in as acting finance minister, a Finance Ministry spokesman said. Hirchson in a statement said he had notified Olmert he was stepping down .

— With input from agencies