ARABS-ISRAEL - Sept. 7 - Military Chief Loses Job.

Israeli Lieutenant-Gen. Shaul Mofaz says the military commander in the West Bank, Brigadier-General Shlomo, will leave his post as a result of a bungled raid in the West Bank in which 3 Israeli soldiers were killed by their own men. Mofaz tells a news conference he had accepted the resignation of Oren in the wake of the anti-guerrilla operation carried out by an undercover Israeli unit known as "Duvdevan". Releasing the findings of a military inquiry, Mofaz says the 3 Israeli soldiers killed in the Aug. 26 night-time raid in the village of Assira Al Shamaliyeh had been shot by "friendly fire" from Duvdevan snipers. The force, whose men often disguise themselves as Arabs while hunting Palestinian guerrillas, had been searching for Mahmoud Abu Hanoud of the militant Muslim group Hamas. (Abu Hanoud, described by Israel as its most wanted Palestinian guerrilla in the West Bank, escaped to Palestinian-controlled territory during the assault. He surrendered to Palestinian forces and was sentenced by a Palestinian court to 12 years in prison for illegal military activity. Israel said he had played a key role in 2 suicide bombings in Jerusalem in 1997.)