Israeli troops killed four Palestinians and wounded at least 50 others this afternoon in clashes that erupted during a rare daylight raid on the occupied West Bank's main city, witnesses and medics said.
A wounded Palestinian is carried away during clashes
Mohammed al-Shoubaki, a top financier for militant group Islamic Jihad, was taken into custody by the Israeli forces before they withdrew from Ramallah under attack from Palestinian gunmen and stone-throwers.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the raid showed poor faith by Israel, coming a day after its Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed in Washington to pursue peacemaking.
"The Israeli government and army are doing their best to increase tensions and destroy the truce and prevent the return to the negotiating table to revive the peace process," said the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah.
The Israeli army confirmed Mr Shoubaki's arrest but gave no details on why it was ordered. Sworn to Israel's destruction, Islamic Jihad has helped spearhead a more than 5-year-old Palestinian revolt and flouted a truce declared last year.
Dozens of Palestinians were wounded during the hour-long clash in Ramallah's main shopping area, most by live gunfire and some by rubber bullets, the director of the local hospital said.
An army spokeswoman said troops shot three gunmen, but used only "riot dispersal tactics" - which generally include rubber bullets - against the stone-throwers.
It was one of fiercest battles in the city since a major Israeli sweep of the West Bank in 2002. At its height, some Palestinians took to the rooftops to throw debris down at Israeli troops' patrol jeeps.
"This is our city. We have to defend it in every way, no matter how primitive," said one stone-thrower. The Israeli army said a soldier was lightly wounded.
Israeli soldiers often make raids into Ramallah, the Palestinian seat of government. But they rarely turn into major fights. The last major daytime raid was more than a year ago.