Arafat Mourns Arab Shot in Error

Yasser Arafat has apologised to the father of a young Arab man who was shot dead in Jerusalem in a botched attempt by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade to murder a Jewish settler.

George Khoury, a 20-year-old economics student at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and the son of a prominent lawyer, was jogging through a neighbourhood mostly populated by Jews when gunmen shot him in the head, neck and stomach on Friday night.

His father, Elias, has represented Palestinian politicians and Israeli Arabs accused of murder, and fought renowned legal battles against Jewish settlers over land ownership. The victim's grandfather, Daoud, was killed in 1975 when a bomb hidden in a refrigerator by Mr Arafat's Fatah movement exploded in one of Jerusalem's busiest shopping streets, Jaffa road.

The Palestinian leader called Elias Khoury's home on Saturday to apologise. The al-Aqsa brigade issued a statement also expressing regret, saying the killing was a case of "mistaken identity". It said it regarded Mr Khoury as a "martyr" to the cause of Palestinian liberation.

The father called the shooting "barbaric". "Terrorism is blind, it does not discriminate between Jews and Arabs, or between the good and bad," he told Israel's army radio.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army shot dead five Palestinians, including two 15-year-olds, in the Gaza Strip yesterday, as a week-long incursion near the Egyptian border by tanks and troops continued. Fourteen people were hurt, some seriously, in what the army said was a sweep to find tunnels used to smuggle in weapons. None was found, but Palestinians said at least five homes were demolished.

Israel's defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, told a cabinet meeting yesterday that he planned to escalate attacks on Hamas and other militants, ahead of Ariel Sharon's pledge to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.