Palestinians: US veto gives Israel licence to kill

2.00pm

GAZA - Palestinians accused the United States on Friday of granting Israel a licence to kill by vetoing UN condemnation of its assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Israeli forces, taking action after the Islamic militant group said it would launch "earthquake-like" attacks to avenge Yassin's death, killed two Hamas frogmen who came ashore overnight near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians denounced the US veto and thousands demonstrated in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest Yassin's killing. In Tehran, about 5000 people marched in protest as well, chanting "Death to Israel, death to America".

"I'm afraid this US veto will be taken by Israel as encouragement to continue on the path of violence and escalation, assassinations and reoccupation (of Palestinian territory)," cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah, echoing Erekat's comments, said the veto gave Israel "a new green light" to step up targeted killings and "comprehensive aggression" against Palestinians.

"The United States, through these positions that provide a cover for the Israeli terrorism, increase the anger of our people against its policies," he said. "But we will not retract from pursuing our way until we regain our rights."

Haniyah said the veto also provided "further proof" that the United States was involved in Yassin's killing. The US has denied having any advance knowledge of Israeli plans to kill the Sheikh.

A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Deheisha refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem during a confrontation between the army and stone-throwers protesting Yassin's killing, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli military sources said Palestinians threw stones and concrete blocks at an army jeep patrolling the area. A Palestinian threw a petrol bomb at it and a roadside bomb nearby exploded simultaneously, igniting the vehicle.

The soldiers then evacuated the jeep and opened fire at the Palestinian, the sources said.

In the town of Sheikh Radwan in the Gaza Strip, about 2,000 Hamas supporters and armed militants vowed to steps up suicide bombings in Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, where dozens of Israelis have been killed in such attacks.

"Hundreds of martyrs-in-waiting are ready to turn Israel's life into hell," they shouted, adding that Hamas militants were "eager to explode into shrapnel and destroy the enemies of God".

In the West Bank city of Nablus, a car exploded, killing a 22-year-old militant who was apparently rigging it as a bomb.

At the United Nations Security Council, the United States blocked a resolution by Arab nations late on Thursday intended to censure Israel for assassinating Hamas' wheelchair-bound founder in a missile strike outside a Gaza mosque.

Washington, alone among major powers in not condemning Monday's assassination as an extrajudicial killing, rejected the resolution because it did not also denounce Hamas for suicide bombings in Israel. The vote was 11 in favour, three abstentions, and the United States veto that killed the measure.

An Israeli government official in Jerusalem welcomed the US veto but expressed disappointment at the proposed resolution. "We are troubled by this cynical attempt to condemn those who are fighting terrorism without denouncing the terrorists themselves," he said.

Violence in Gaza has surged since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stunned friend and foe alike in February with a plan to withdraw troops and Jewish settlers from Gaza.

Sharon and US President George W Bush will meet on April 14 in the United States in a bid to complete details of the Gaza withdrawal, people involved in the deliberations said on Friday.

Worshippers at Friday prayers in the Gaza mosque where Yassin had prayed minutes before his assassination wept and demanded revenge as they looked upon the empty spot where the paralysed 67-year-old cleric used to sit in his wheelchair.

Israel has vowed to kill more militants it sees as the masterminds behind suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis during a nearly 3-1/2 year Palestinian uprising.

- REUTERS