Israel arrests suspected militants

An Israeli helicopter fires as a border police jeep pursues gunmen along the border between Israel and Jordan.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli troops Wednesday entered the West Bank village of Azzoun and arrested a number of Palestinian militants, the Israeli army and Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli and Palestinian security officials, meanwhile, were said to be meeting Wednesday at both senior and junior levels, trying to take advantage of the lull in violence to make a current cease-fire more formal.

Reports conflicted over the number of people arrested and the organizations they were affiliated with. An Israeli army spokesman said their forces arrested 17 people suspected of terrorist activities and transferred them to Israel Security Forces for investigation.

According to the spokesman, all those arrested were members of one of three Palestinian militant groups: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hamas and Fatah.

Palestinian sources, however, said Israeli forces arrested 18 members of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction after surrounding Azzoun early Wednesday and declaring a curfew.

Twelve of the 18 were later released, according to the Palestinian sources.

Fatah is the mainstream faction and Palestinian nationalist movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Along with the mainstream organization, it also is linked to several splinter groups.

Palestinian killed in Jenin

In other developments, a Palestinian was killed during a firefight with Israel forces in Palestinian-controlled Jenin.

The Israel Defense Forces said its troops operating near the settlements of Ganim and Kadim spotted armed Palestinian gunmen.

An IDF statement said Israeli troops opened fire and pursued two gunmen to the entrance of Jenin. The IDF said there was an exchange of fire and IDF troops "called out to the gunmen to surrender.

"During the exchange of fire the gunmen threw grenades at the force." The IDF said Israeli forces returned fire with light weapons, tank shells and fire from helicopters.

Israeli military sources said at least one of the two men was hit by gunfire. An Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, they said.

Palestinian security sources, meanwhile, said three Israeli jeeps and a tank, accompanied by a helicopter, entered a Palestinian-controlled area at Jenin.

The Palestinian security sources said they opened fire at the Israelis, who responded with two tank shells. One shell killed a man inside a house and the second shell damaged a mosque, the Palestinian sources said.

The Palestinian security sources denied the Israelis were chasing two gunmen, saying they entered Jenin without a reason. The Palestine Red Crescent Society confirmed one Palestinian had been killed.

Palestinian officials issued a statement saying "the Israeli aggression had no justification whatsoever and it only results in destabilizing and undermining the stability and the calm that has prevailed in the past few days."

"The Palestinian leadership demands and appeals for an international and specifically American intervention before things get out of hand," the statement said. "Patience has limits."

The IDF said Israeli and Palestinian commanders met during the fighting and "agreed that the Palestinians will take control of the incident and prevent gunmen from leaving their area."

The IDF said Israeli forces had withdrawn. They denied firing at a mosque.

Blockade of Jericho removed

The fighting came on the same day the Israeli army removed its blockade of the West Bank town of Jericho. Israel first imposed blockades on a number of Palestinian towns after a series of deadly suicide bombings earlier this month, saying it was necessary to prevent potential attackers from leaving the cities.

Israeli troops remain deployed in several West Bank towns, including Ramallah, where Arafat has been confined for weeks since a spate of deadly suicide bombings aimed at Israelis by Palestinian militants.

Israel has said the blockades were necessary to prevent potential attackers from leaving the towns.

Arafat has come under increasing pressure from the United States, Israel and Europe to crack down on terrorists in territory under Palestinian control since a string of attacks this month that killed more than 30 Israelis.

The terror bombings prompted the Israeli Cabinet to cut ties with Arafat and sanction retaliatory strikes on the West Bank and Gaza.