Deadly attacks on Israelis as ruling party chooses leader

7.40am

JERUSALEM - Suspected Palestinian gunmen killed four people in northern Israel soon after missile and bomb attacks on Israelis in Kenya, marring a vote that is crucial to deciding Israel's next Prime Minister.

The violence was not expected to affect the outcome of the leadership race in the ruling right-wing Likud party, in which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was widely expected to defeat his more hardline rival, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Police and witnesses said two gunmen went on a shooting spree at a Likud polling booth and near a bus station in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean, a bastion of Likud voters close to borders with the West Bank and Jordan.

Israeli medics said four Israelis were killed and 35 were wounded, 11 seriously, before at least one of the gunmen was killed. The status of the other was unclear.

"There were rounds and rounds of fire," Udi, a witness, said in a radio interview. "We have friends and neighbours who were killed."

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack although Palestinian militants have frequently carried out suicide bombings and shootings in Israel as part of their more than two-year-old uprising for independence.

Sharon's government has taken tough military action against Palestinian areas in response to militant attacks.

But he is juggling conflicting pressures to both look tough before Israel's January 28 general election and avoid an escalation in the conflict with Palestinians that could harm US efforts to win Arab support for possible war on Iraq.

The attack in Beit Shean erupted several hours after a car bombing at an Israeli-owned hotel near the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa killed 11 people. Three of the dead were Israelis, Israel's Foreign Ministry said.

It said two missiles were fired minutes later at a Boeing 757 of the Israeli airline Arkia on takeoff from Mombasa, but missed. Arkia said all 261 people aboard were safe and the plane landed later in Israel without incident.

Kenya's ambassador to Israel said there was "no doubt" that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network carried out the attacks.

Opinion polls put the hawkish Sharon far ahead of his more right-wing rival as ballot stations opened nationwide for the Likud's 305,000 members. The winner will become the favourite to be Prime Minister after a general election set for January 28.

Likud members began voting at 10am (9pm NZT). The ballots close 12 hours later and the result is expected around 1230am on Friday (11.30am Fri NZT).

Victory would be the first step for Sharon on the path to retaining the Prime Minister's post that he has held for almost two years, despite failing to bring Israelis promised security.

Reeling from waves of suicide bombings, Israelis have lurched to the right since the uprising began in September 2000. This has strengthened Likud and means the centre-left Labour Party has an uphill struggle to do well in the January poll.

"I believe that I will be elected on Thursday and then again in two months," Sharon, 74, said in an interview published by the Ma'ariv newspaper on Wednesday.

At least 1,683 Palestinians and 666 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began.

The latest poll, commissioned by Army Radio and reported on Thursday, put Sharon's lead at 22 percentage points -- despite 53-year-old Netanyahu's attempts to portray Sharon's leadership as disastrous for national morale.

Palestinians would not welcome either man's victory because they see both as hardliners standing in the way of peace.

They have made clear they would prefer dovish Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna to be Israel's prime minister as he has offered to reopen peace negotiations without preconditions and unilaterally withdraw Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon and Netanyahu have both blamed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the violence of the last two years. Arafat denies blame. Sharon has refused to meet Arafat for talks and Netanyahu says he wants the Palestinian leader expelled abroad.

Sharon, a veteran former general, is more trusted by Israelis than his rival to bring the security they crave.

He has sought to look tough on the Palestinians but also hopes to avoid an escalation in the conflict that could harm US efforts to win Arab support for possible war on Iraq.

Commentators say Netanyahu miscalculated when he sought to outflank Sharon by opposing the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Polls indicate that a majority of Likud voters accept eventual Palestinian statehood.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Middle East