2 Israeli Teens Shot to Death in West Bank : Mideast: Palestinians opposed to peace accord claim responsibility. Talks continue on expanding self-rule in territory.

Two Israeli teen-agers were fatally shot in a guerrilla attack in the West Bank, police said Tuesday.

An Arabic-speaking caller to the Associated Press in Jerusalem claimed responsibility for the killings on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization that does not accept the PLO peace accord with Israel.

The attack occurred as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators worked to complete an agreement on expanding Palestinian self-rule throughout the West Bank. If the PFLP claim proves true, the shootings would be the first fatal attack on Israelis by Palestinians in more than three months.

Jewish settlers--who have warned for months that there would be a blood bath in the West Bank if Israel’s army pulls out of Palestinian towns and villages--were outraged by Tuesday’s incident. “While the murderers sit safe and secure in Zichron Yaacov, Jews are being murdered,” said Aharon Domb, spokesman for the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea and Samaria. Zichron Yaacov is the Israeli town where PLO and Israeli negotiators are meeting.

A series of bloody attacks on Israelis by Islamic militants of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations last year and early this year slowed negotiations to a crawl between Israel and the Palestinians for several months. The last attacks occurred April 10, outside the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. Seven Israeli soldiers and an American tourist were killed by suicide bombers.

The Israelis found dead Tuesday reportedly were on a nature hike in Wadi Qelt, a picturesque riverbed and nature reserve in the Judean desert, between Jerusalem and Jericho. It is a popular spot for nature lovers and picnickers. The dead were identified as Ohad Bachrach, 19, of the Jewish settlement of Beit El and Uri Shahor, 18, of the Israeli town of Raananna. A police spokesman said both victims had been shot in the head. A gun carried by one hiker reportedly was missing.

On Oct. 9, 1993, two other Israeli hikers were fatally shot in Wadi Qelt. That attack also was believed to have been carried out by Palestinian gunmen.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police combed the area Tuesday, searching for suspects and clues, after the bodies were found. Maj. Gen. Ilan Biran, commander of the Central Command, told reporters it is possible that the attackers fled to Jericho, the only West Bank town under PLO control.

If the attackers are in Jericho, “our security forces will take action,” said Nabil abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PLO leader Yasser Arafat. “We have signed a peace agreement and will not tolerate such action,” Abu Rudaineh said.

Jewish settlers said Tuesday’s attack demonstrated that the PLO cannot be trusted to provide security for more than 100,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank.

Under an agreement that Israel and the PLO hope to sign by the end of July, Israel will pull its troops out of most of the West Bank’s large cities and hundreds of Palestinian villages. It will hand over responsibility for running the daily lives of the area’s 1 million Palestinians to the PLO, which would be responsible for security in most towns and villages.

But Israel will continue to patrol the area’s main roads and will be responsible for the security of Jewish settlers in more than 100 communities scattered across the West Bank. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has said Israel will also retain “overall responsibility” for security in the West Bank and will have the right to act against what the Israelis call terrorism throughout the area.

Jewish settlers have expressed violent opposition to any pullback of Israeli troops. They have mounted a campaign of what they call civil disobedience, aimed at slowing or stopping the redeployment. Soldiers or Israeli police have clashed several times this month with settlers.

Rabbis aligned with the settler movement shocked the nation last week by issuing a religious ruling urging soldiers serving in the West Bank not to participate in the withdrawal. Rabin and politicians from both left-wing and right-wing parties said the ruling was an attempt to undermine both the army and Israeli democracy.

Under the September, 1993, accord signed between Israel and the PLO, Israel was supposed to have redeployed in the West Bank more than a year ago. But concerns about security slowed negotiations on the transfer of authority. Now, both sides are trying to meet a self-imposed deadline of July 25 for reaching agreement. Serious differences remain, however, over both security measures and the control of water and land in the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is due to meet today in Alexandria, Egypt, with Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to try to resolve some of the more sensitive issues.