Israelis blast Gaza after attack

GAZA - An Israeli tank shell killed at least five Palestinians yesterday during an Israeli incursion into the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel launched the operation after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis during a raid on a Jewish settlement in the area. Israeli soldiers killed the two attackers.

The Palestinian officials said five Palestinians, four of them policemen, were killed when an Israeli tank shell hit their security post near the Palestinian town of Beit Lahiya at the northern end of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Army said the aim of the incursion, about 1km into a Palestinian-ruled area, was to protect Jewish settlements from attack.

The violence left in tatters a ceasefire which the United States had sought to help it attract Arab and Islamic countries into a global alliance against terror after last month's attacks in New York and Washington.

A Palestinian security source said the Israeli forces destroyed at least 10 Palestinian police posts during the incursion.

The Israeli operation followed a raid - condemned by the Palestinian Authority - on Alei Sinai, Israel's northernmost settlement in the Gaza Strip, by at least two gunmen from the militant Hamas group.

An 18-year-old Israeli woman soldier and her boyfriend were shot dead during the night attack on the settlement and more than a dozen people were wounded.

Witnesses said the gunmen fired at settlers and at soldiers and threw hand grenades into homes before being killed by Israeli troops.

After the settlement raid, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with his inner cabinet to review the situation a week into a truce plan battered by the deaths of 20 Palestinians, two Israelis, a car bomb in Jerusalem and many shooting attacks.

He held the Palestinian Authority and President Yasser Arafat responsible "for the prevention of terrorist activities" and said the Israeli Army would take all measures to protect Israeli citizens.

His wording appeared to suggest that Israel had returned to a pre-truce policy of swift military retaliation, including incursions into Palestinian-ruled territory, for any Palestinian attacks.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the raid on Alei Sinai, but found itself on the defensive again, hours after celebrating comments by President George W. Bush saying the creation of a Palestinian state was part of the US vision for the Middle East.

The violence set back hopes that an end could be in sight to a 12-month-old conflict in which at least 607 Palestinians and 171 Israelis have been killed.

Sharon, later addressing a gathering of pro-Israeli foreign Christians in Jerusalem, called the Hamas attack "another terrible act of terror"and demanded the international community officially brand Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah as terrorist organisations and take steps against them.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are hardline Palestinian groups opposed to the existence of Israel, while Hizbollah is a Shiite Muslim group from Lebanon with the same agenda.

The three groups were not mentioned on a list of 27 possible targets drawn up by the US State Department following the September 11 terror attacks on the US.

"We are in a war here. We are facing a very heavy war and struggle. We are facing Arab and Palestinian attacks," Sharon said.

The Palestinians had earlier praised Bush for saying the creation of a Palestinian state had always been part of the US vision for the Middle East, and said his remarks would help promote peace.

A senior Israeli official said there was nothing new in Bush's remarks and that Israel did not preclude the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Bush made his comments after US newspapers reported that his Administration had been ready to announce its backing for the creation of a Palestinian state before the September 11 suicide attacks against US targets.

Palestinian officials saw a shift in US policy.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, senior adviser to Arafat, said: "Definitely this is a positive development in the American position that will reflect positively on developments in the region. "Bush's statements will contribute to bring about stability and peace in the region and the world."

The Palestinians have regarded US Middle East policy as biased towards Israel since long before the start of a Palestinian uprising a year ago against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians have also urged the US to play a more direct role in ending the violence. But Bush has been reluctant to plunge as deeply into peacemaking as his predecessor, Bill Clinton.

- REUTERS

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