Cairo - Palestinian negotiators have not had their proposals for amendments to a draft reconciliation plan rejected out of hand in the run up to inter-Palestinian peace talks, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Tuesday.

"It is not true that the amendments were rejected ... we have already overcome many obstacles," al-Zahar told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Ramallah - The Palestinian Authority officially called Tuesday on Palestinian residents of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem to boycott the upcoming municipal elections in the city, saying that a vote in the November 11 poll constituted de facto recognition of the Israeli occupation of the city.

Beirut - Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal called on Monday for dialogue to resolve the tense situation in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

"We have called for the launch of a Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue to discuss all the problems of Palestinian camps, Ain el-Hilweh or others," Mashaal said in Beirut, referring to the tension inside the camp which is located east of the southern port city of Sidon.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday urged Israel to put an end to "brutal" attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

"The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," said a statement issued by the French presidency of the EU on behalf of the bloc's 27 member states.

"The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations," the EU said.

Gaza City - A Palestinian policeman was killed early Friday in an explosion in the police headquarters in Gaza City, according to an official in the de-facto Hamas government.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Ihab Ghussein said the powerful explosion killed Ala Ijleh, 20, from Gaza City.

He said Ijleh, who belongs to the bomb squad in the police force, was killed while attempting to detonate an explosive device discovered in the bomb squad section of the Arafat Police City.

No one else was hurt in the explosion, which sparked a fire in the building, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters engaged an Israeli force which crossed the southern Gaza border with Israel near the town of Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis.

Beirut - A bomb exploded late Thursday inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, east of the southern port city of Sidon, according to Lebanese and Palestinian sources.

The bomb went off near an office for the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement, causing panic and material damage.

In recent months, there have been several clashes in Ain al-Hilweh between Fatah and the mainly Sunni Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), an Islamist group. The Lebanese Army does not enter the camps, leaving the responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.