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Israel Kills Two Hamas Members
NABLUS, West Bank, July 13 (News Agencies) - Two Palestinians from the Islamic resistance movement Hamas were killed Friday, one in a car bomb blamed on Israel, after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned Israel's patience was running out.
The killings capped one of the worst 24 hours of violence since a would-be ceasefire was declared exactly one month ago, further scuttling hopes for an international plan to get the two sides back on the road toward peace talks.
Western news agencies report that the deadly chain of events began with an overnight slaying Thursday of Yehezkiel Mualem, a 49-year-old resident of the Kiryat Arba settlement close to the West Bank city of Hebron, by Palestinian gunmen who wounded at least one other settler.
With lights in Hebron out during an electricity outage, Israeli troops and tanks swept into Palestinian areas of the divided city before dawn and pounded buildings and checkpoints with shells and machine-gun fire.
Three members of Force 17, the elite guard of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as at least 14 civilians, were wounded before the Israelis pulled out.
On Friday afternoon, a 27-year-old member of the military wing of Hamas, Fawaz Badran, was blown up in the West Bank town of Tulkarem as he passed by a car packed with explosives and set off by remote control.
Palestinians shot at Israeli positions after the blast, prompting Israeli tanks to open fire on one of the entrances to the Palestinian-controlled town.
Hamas said Badran had been assassinated in the latest of Israel's pinpoint hits, which the Jewish state says are aimed at resistance fighters planning retaliatory attacks against Israel, which the Palestinians say have killed around 30 people.
The United States and Europe have condemned the killings. An Israeli army spokeswoman claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.
Another member of Hamas, a group opposed to the peace process which has claimed the majority of retaliatory attacks against Israel since the 1993 Oslo peace accords, was shot dead earlier by Israeli troops in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army said its soldiers gunned down Atef Tafesh just as he was about to throw a grenade at an Israeli patrol.
On Friday evening, a 28-year-old settler, David Cohen, died from his injuries suffered after being shot by Palestinian gunmen on Thursday, settler sources told AFP.
Sharon, who returned from a 24-hour visit to Italy in the afternoon, said in Rome that Israel would now retaliate for every Palestinian attack, apparently renouncing on his self-declared "restraint" policy.
He told reporters upon arrival in Tel Aviv that his son Omri, who has no position in the government, had met with Arafat on Thursday evening to deliver a "firm message" insisting the Palestinian leader halt the "terrorism and violence".
The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, said Thursday evening that Israel should not put full trust in Arafat but added in he was "the least worst alternative" in any future moves to make peace with the Palestinians.
The Palestinians say they are doing all they can to control anti-Israeli attacks and live up to the June 13th ceasefire and that Israel's demand for a total end to the violence before moving forward with the Mitchell peace plan is unrealistic.
Indyk said Israel was correct to insist on a total end to the violence.
Since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in late September, 648 people have been killed - 506 Palestinians, 123 Israelis, 13 Arab Israelis and six Europeans.
Palestinian resistance fighters state attacks on Jewish settlers, who live on land occupied by Israel since 1967, are a legitimate attempt to re-take their territory. The international community says the settlements are illegal.
Sharon has been under increasing pressure from hardliners and others to strike back hard at the Palestinians over the violence, with some open speculation about the value of toppling Arafat and destroying his self-rule Palestinian Authority.
The mayor of the Kiryat Arba settlement, speaking at Mualem's funeral on Friday, said he had "serious doubts at the ability of settlers to maintain restraint" in the face of the ongoing attacks.
Israeli radio said settlers went on the rampage again Friday, beating up two Palestinians. On Thursday they fired on Palestinian homes and set alight cars and olive groves, a crucial element of the hard-hit Palestinian economy.
Settlers say Sharon is not doing enough to protect them. Thirty-two have been died since the Intifada began, compared against the 506 Palestinians.
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