Fatah: fight goes on

JERUSALEM - A top official of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in Gaza shrugged off an Israeli threat of revenge for a soldier's death and said the Palestinian uprising would continue whatever the price.

Fatah's Gaza secretary, Ahmed Hellas, warned Israel that the struggle would continue after thousands of Palestinians attended a tumultuous funeral on for Baha Said, who killed an Israeli Army sergeant and wounded two soldiers before he himself was shot dead.

The attack at dawn on Saturday (local time) brought the number of people killed in more than seven weeks of fighting to at least 238, most of them Palestinians.

The mourners hailed Said, a 30-year-old policeman from al-Maghazi refugee camp, as a hero as low-key diplomatic efforts sought to find a way to end the conflict.

Political sources said that United States President Bill Clinton's special envoy Dennis Ross would return to the region today to resume mediation efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office said former Israeli President Ezer Weizman would also meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The statement said Danny Yatom, Barak's security adviser, would attend the talks.

Describing the early morning attack, the Israeli Army said Baruch Plum, a 21-year-old staff sergeant from Tel Aviv, was killed and two soldiers wounded, one critically, when a lone "terrorist" fired at an Army post guarding the Jewish Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom.

Major-General Yom Tov Samia, chief of Israel's southern command, told reporters that Palestinian officials would personally feel the consequences of any attacks.

The Palestinian Authority defied the threat, telling Israel to stay its hand while it investigated the attack, claimed by the Fatah Hawks militia.

Samir al-Mashhrawi, a senior officer in Arafat's preventive security forces, said that while Said had worked alone, his action "was a source of pride for the Palestinian people."

But he added: "[He] executed his operation in silence without anybody's knowledge."

This was not accepted by the Israselis. Brigadier-General Yair Naveh said: "It is clear that the attacker did not act alone."

The attack came only a day after Arafat said he had ordered a halt to shooting from areas under full Palestinian control.

"The same Palestinian officials that on one hand call for a ceasefire, on the other hand send officers to carry out attacks," said Naveh. Arafat's announcement on Friday marked his first public statement ordering an end to shooting attacks on Israelis from territory under his control. In the remarks, he didn't refer to land under Israeli control, and Saturday's shooting took place in an area where Israeli is responsible for security.

It was the first attack openly claimed by the Fatah Hawks, since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupted.

The Hawks played a prominent role in an earlier Palestinian intifada from 1987 until 1933, when the two sides launched a peace process in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

- REUTERS

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