The two men were reported to have been hiking with a woman in the area of the Talam and Adura settlements when four gunmen opened fire. According to controversial reports at least one gunmen was killed in return fire.
The woman escaped and called for help, which arrived almost an hour later.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Israeli police and army searched the area finding a vehicle with blood stains apparently abandoned by the gunmen.
The attack follows an Israeli military operation late on Thursday in a suburb of Ramallah, where Israeli troops tried to arrest and eventually killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and a bodyguard for the Palestinians' chief negotiator in peace talks.
U.S. President George W. Bush is set to make a tour of the Middle East between January 8 and 16 in an attempt to boost the peace process in the region. He will visit Israel, the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
