Hamas member killed in Israeli raid

Arafat calls for halt to all Mideast violence

Arafat pledged those responsible for attacks would be arrested

HEBRON, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli troops killed a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas during a raid in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

The Israel Defense Forces said the incident occurred Monday in an area under full Palestinian control.

A force spokesperson said: "One of the heads of the Hamas movement in the city, Yakoub Dakidek, was killed. The IDF was planning to arrest him in order to investigate his involvement in terrorist activity.

"The force arrived at Dakidek's house in order to arrest him, but he escaped. The force called him to stop, he did not stop and they shot him."

Israel has targeted Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group, because its military wing has claimed responsibility for attacks against Israeli military personnel and civilian areas.

VIDEO Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat speaks on Palestinian TV (December 16) Play video: part 1 | 2 (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) VIDEO Yasser Arafat's televised call for militants to halt attacks against Israel has drawn mixed reactions. CNN's Rula Amin reports (December 17) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   RESOURCES Arafat speech transcript  Go on the scene with CNN: Chris Burns in Jerusalem    MORE STORIES U.S. vetoes U.N. Mideast resolution

In Gaza, a mortar was fired into the Jewish settlement of Gush Khatif on Sunday night. No one was injured.

Both incidents came a day after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for a halt to all violence in the Middle East.

Arafat, under pressure from the United States, Israel and Europe to crack down on terrorists in territory under Palestinian control, made the speech two weeks after a weekend of terror attacks on civilians in which 25 Israelis were killed in Jerusalem and Haifa.

Arafat called Israel's attacks on Palestinian positions "an unjust war," but urged Palestinians against carrying out reprisals against Israel.

"We would like to reiterate that all sorts of armed activities should be stopped and there should be no more attacks, especially the suicide bombing attacks that we have always condemned," Arafat said Sunday in a speech broadcast on Palestinian television. "We will arrest those who have planned these attacks."

Israeli and U.S. officials said Arafat's words must be followed by action.

"I must say I have to be a little skeptical, because Arafat made these statements before," said Ra'anan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "He made it on the 27th of September when he accepted a cease-fire. We buried 67 people since then and 500 more were wounded."

In another incident, police detained a leading Palestinian official in Jerusalem after the government banned a gathering in the disputed sector of the city.

Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestine Liberation Organization's top representative in East Jerusalem, and a few others were taken in for questioning. The Israeli daily Ha'aretz said Jerusalem police detained Nusseibeh, Palestinian lawmaker Hatem Abdel Khader, prominent Palestinian attorney Jawad Boulous, and Nusseibeh's son for questioning.

Nusseibeh is an outspoken proponent for peace with Israel.

The paper reported that fearing expansion of Palestinian claims of sovereignty in East Jerusalem, Public Security Minister Uzi Landau won Cabinet support to ban Nusseibeh, successor to the late Faisal Husseini as the ranking Palestinian figure in Jerusalem, from holding a reception in the Old City's Imperial Hotel to mark the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Fitr.