Gaza violence dents hopes of Middle East peace

GAZA - Israel struck back with missiles at Gaza Strip militants on Monday after five Israeli troops were killed in a resurgence of violence that has dented hopes of peace after Yasser Arafat's death.

The bloodshed underlined the challenge facing moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose victory in a January 9 election to replace Arafat is virtually assured after jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi withdrew.

Israeli helicopters fired eight missiles at targets in Gaza City, cutting off electricity when they hit a generator. Another of the buildings hit was a metal foundry, which the army said was used to make weapons. There were no reports of casualties.

Hours later, Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Nablus killed a gunman from Islamic militant group Hamas -- one of the factions behind Sunday's attack on an Israeli military outpost at the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Militants have stepped up attacks in Gaza ahead of a planned Israeli withdrawal from the occupied strip next year, hoping to claim a pullout as a victory. The army aims to smash them first.

Growing violence in Gaza has dealt a blow to optimists who thought Arafat's death on November 11 in a Paris hospital could usher in calm to end a 4-year-old uprising and bring peace to the Middle East after decades of conflict.

Israel has said it could talk to a new Palestinian leadership if it reins in militant groups, but will otherwise carry out its plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip alone.

"Our firm demand to the Palestinian Authority, as a preliminary stage, is to stop terror," Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Ze'ev Boim told Israel Radio. "Stopping terror as a condition to move on is justified."

Sunday's carefully planned attack on the Israeli post was the army's heaviest loss in seven months. Militants burrowed underneath and set off a 1,500 kg bomb, turning buildings to rubble and killing five soldiers of a Bedouin Arab unit.

Israel closed the Rafah border with Egypt -- the only real access to the outside world for residents of fenced-in Gaza, who are only very rarely allowed to cross into Israel.

Boim said Israel would respond to violence, but still try to ease conditions for Palestinians so that next month's presidential election goes smoothly.

Abbas, 69, was ensured a clear run after firebrand uprising leader Barghouthi pulled out on Sunday. Abbas has often condemned violence and is expected to try to revive talks with Israel that stalled before the uprising blew up in 2000.

Barghouthi is serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail for orchestrating attacks, but he has much more appeal on the street than Abbas and the two men had been even in opinion polls.

A good showing for Barghouthi -- even if he had lost -- could have undermined Abbas when it came to negotiating with Israel or cracking down on militant groups.

Abbas will have to deal quickly with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to quit Gaza. Western countries hail it as a step to peace, but Palestinians fear it will cost them the West Bank. Both territories were captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Sharon wants to evacuate all the settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank next year. Most Israelis want to part with impoverished Gaza, but Sharon faces opposition from rightists who say it would "reward terror."

- REUTERS