TEHRAN Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who tried to cross the Israeli-Gaza border near an army post, the army and Palestinian police sources said on Friday.

It was the first killing in nearly three days, during which U.S. President Bill Clinton has been trying to forge a peace deal ending 52 years of conflict between the Zionists and the Palestinians.

The army said the Palestinian, who shouted "Allah-o-Akbar" (God Is the Greatest), was killed trying to cross a security fence next to the post at the Erez crossing during the night in an attempt to attack the post. His body was found during a search of the area.

Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops Friday and protesters clashed with soldiers, dimming hopes that proposed new peace talks could get off the ground.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed Mohammed Mahmud abu Hasira, 37, before dawn near the Erez crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip after a night of sporadic gunfights.

Abu Hasira was identified by Palestinian hospital officials.

Clashes between Palestinian and Israeli soldiers broke out in the West Bank town of Ramallah Friday after thousands of Palestinians demonstrated to reject a U.S. plan for peace with Israel.

At least one Palestinian was injured when Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets on scores of Palestinian stone-throwers at the northern entrance of the Arab-run city.

The clashes broke out after some 3,000 Palestinians marched through Ramallah shouting slogans denouncing a U.S. proposal for a compromise peace deal with Israel.

"The return to negotiations ignores the blood of the martyrs," demonstrators shouted before setting fire to an Israeli flag.

"The right of return is sacred. It cannot be compromised and is not for sale!" cheered others.

Nearly 370 people have been killed since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip more than three months ago. The vast majority of the deaths have been Palestinian.

Israeli and Palestinians have said that the U.S. plan would give the Palestinians control over nearly all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Arab areas of Bait-ul-Moqaddas.

Some Jewish settlements, however, would be annexed to Israel and the Palestinians would have to accept the Jewish state's refusal to allow some 3.7 million Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.

In Ramallah, a group of demonstrators from the Islamic resistance movement Hamas called on Palestinians to follow the example of Yehiya Ayash, a bomb-maker dubbed "The Engineer" who was assassinated on January 5, 1996.

In the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem Friday, some 2,000 Palestinians marched through the streets denouncing the U.S. peace plan, including a group of gunmen who fired automatic weapons in the air.

South of Tulkarem in Nablus, some 1,000 Palestinians -- most hailing from factions opposed to Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat -- called on Arafat's self-rule authority not to resume negotiations based on the Clinton's ideas.

Demonstrators in Nablus set fire to photographs of Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

In a statement Friday, a coalition of 13 Palestinian factions called for mass protests to be held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday to support the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

A senior Palestinian official said on Friday that he was not optimistic about reaching a peace agreement with Israel in the 15 days before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves office this month.

"For seven years Israel has delayed in implementing commitments it made and agreements it signed, so it's not easy in the last period of President Clinton's office for negotiations to proceed from the current freeze," Farouq Kaddoumi, head of the Political Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told reporters.

"The Israelis interpret things at present as weakness with the Arabs, although we have said that peace is our strategic choice, so we are not optimistic about achieving anything at this stage," he added.

Clinton has made proposals aiming to reach agreement on issues at the core of 52 years of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis before he leaves office on January 20.

A meeting of nine Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Thursday reaffirmed the core demands of right of return of Palestinian refugees to the Jewish state and Palestinian sovereignty over Israeli-annexed Arab Bait-ul-Moqaddas and its holy sites. Israel has rejected these demands.

Kaddoumi, speaking before heading to Tunisia after Thursday's Arab meeting, rejected the specter of regional war raised by Barak this week as electioneering for prime ministerial elections on February 6.

"Barak wants to scare the Palestinian people and worry Arab rulers... His threats are a clear sign of his failure in reaching peace and of his desire for Israelis to reelect him," he said.