Arafat bodyguard gunned down

By ERIC SILVER

JERUSALEM - An Israeli helicopter gunship has killed an officer in Yasser Arafat's Force 17 bodyguard as he drove past a Gaza refugee camp.

Israel alleged that Massoud Ayyad headed a Hizbollah cell that twice mortared a Jewish settlement, plotted to kidnap Israeli soldiers and smuggled arms into the Palestinian territory.

That was the first specific allegation that the Lebanese Islamic militia was operating in the Gaza Strip or West Bank.

Israeli troops along the Lebanese border were placed on high alert against possible reprisals. Major Ayyad, 54, was said to have visited Hizbollah commanders in Lebanon last summer and to have operated under their orders ever since.

It was the first assassination since the end of December and one of the first acknowledged by Israel. The victim was driving alone in his car, which was turned into a smouldering heap of metal by rockets.

The outgoing Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, said it sent "a clear message to anyone who is planning to attack Israelis that they will not be able to do so with impunity". The pinpoint strike was approved by him in his role as Defence Minister.

The Palestinian Justice Minister, Freih Abu Medein, denied that Major Ayyad, whom he knew personally, was a Hizbollah agent and accused Israel of a war crime in killing him.

Earlier Israeli assassinations of Palestinian military and political activists have been widely criticised by the international community.

Israeli spokesmen admitted that Major Ayyad had not actually killed anyone, but claimed that his cell had made a series of potentially lethal attacks since 24 December.

They were said to have included two mortars fired at the isolated Netzarim settlement, one of which damaged a house roof, and a strike at a civilian bus with anti-tank grenades.

The deputy defence minister, Ephraim Sneh, dismissed suggestions that what amounted to a death sentence was too severe for a man who had no blood on his hands.

"If we didn't touch him," he asked, "and tonight another mortar shell killed Israelis, how would I look their relatives in the eye?"

Israel arrested Nasser, Major Ayyad's son and an alleged member of his Hizbollah cell, last month. The first mortar attack on Netzarim followed the next day. The Israeli military spokesman, Brigadier General Ron Kitrey, said yesterday: "We had solid information that Massoud Ayyad continued intensive activity to carry out additional attacks."

Some Israeli commentators have depicted the entry of Hizbollah into Gaza as the start of the "Lebanonisation" of the Palestinian territories. General Kitrey hesitated to go that far, but pointed to "certain elements" reminiscent of Israel's war with Hizbollah. These included the use of mortars, the laying of roadside explosives and the combination of such bombs with sniper fire.

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was also killed in Gaza yesterday. Palestinian witnesses claimed he was shot dead by Israeli soldiers while he and a group of friends walked along a road 500 yards from an Israeli guard post near Netzarim. The army denied that its soldiers had opened fire in that area.

On the domestic political front, Likud and Labour negotiators were reported last night to be close to a deal to form a national-unity government under Ariel Sharon, who beat Mr Barak in last week's prime ministerial elections. Mr Sharon has offered Labour two of the three senior portfolios, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Finance, but the negotiators are still haggling over the guidelines. Labour recognises that Mr Barak's dash for a final settlement has failed, but would like to inject greater flexibility on Jewish settlements and territorial concessions into Mr Sharon's search for a "long-term interim agreement".

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