Hamas has claimed rsponsibility for killing two Israeli soldiers who died Friday when a suicide bomber set off explosives in a jeep near the northern Gaza Strip settlement of Dugit, reported Haaretz newspaper.
One of the soldiers killed was identified as Staff Sergeant Aviv Izak, 19, from Kfar Sava. The name of the other soldier has not yet been released, said the paper.
A third soldier who was lightly wounded received treatment at the site of the blast.
The Islamic resistance group Hamas claimed responsibility for the explosion, announcing the name of the suicide bomber over mosque loudspeakers in Gaza City, said Haaretz.
Hamas said in an announcement read in mosques in the Shata refugee camp in Gaza Strip that the bomber killed was Ismail Maoussabie, 27.
In a video clip taped before the attack, Maoussabie made a speech while holding a Kalashnikov gun with Hamas flags drapped behind him.
"I am one among hundreds of martyrs in waiting who are waiting to meet God and who are able to reach the Zionists wherever they are," Maoussabie said, cited by the paper.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's adviser, Raanan Gissin, said the Palestinian Authority had to take immediate action to prevent further attacks on Israelis.
"Our patience is running out. If no action will be taken by them we will have to draw necessary conclusions and take the action ourselves," Gissin said.
An army spokeswoman said a Palestinian woman on the roof of a house had signaled to the soldiers from the Givati regiment that a jeep parked in the mud needed help. The vehicle exploded when they reached it. Immediately after the blast, they were fired upon, the spokeswoman claimed.
But Palestinian security sources said the deaths were the result of a fumbled Israeli training exercise taking place in an area under Israeli security control.
About 4,000 Palestinians taking part in a rally of the Islamic Jihad movement at a Gaza refugee camp celebrated news of the deaths, witnesses said.
Members of the crowd shout "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and some shot their weapons in the air.
According to Israeli reports, each side has now suffered six fatalities since a ceasefire brokered by US CIA Director George Tenet went into effect on June 13.
The death of the two Israeli soldiers came as top EU diplomats were meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a race against time Friday to stop the ceasefire from breaking down completely.
Sharon's government is under increasing pressure from Jewish settlers in the West Bank to crack down on the Palestinians following the death of three settlers in shooting incidents since Monday.
That was clear outside his office as he began talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Some 50 settlers shouted "We do not want to be the next ones on the list" and "The policy of restraint is killing us," referring to attacks on them by Palestinians.
After his meeting with Sharon, Solana is slated to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who spoke with Solana earlier, said Arafat's "instructions ... for an end to violence should be clear; until now, no preventive operation has taken place to stop terrorists from carrying explosives," according to AFP.
Peres, the most prominent dove in Sharon's cabinet, was quoted on public radio as pointing out the "increasingly active implication of (Lebanese Shiite militant group) Hizbollah in the Palestinian territories, which constitutes a serious menace to the future of the Palestinian Authority" led by Arafat.
Peres was also to meet Friday with US Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East William Burns.
Arafat will meet Burns on Saturday, according to AFP.
Sharon is to meet in Washington Tuesday with US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is heading to the Middle East later next week.
"Apparently the international community does not want to leave us alone with the Palestinians for a moment for fear of a general flare-up," an Israeli official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
Sharon has so far resisted pressure from settlers and hardliners in his government to dump the ceasefire ahead of his visit to Washington, while asserting Israel's right to defend itself.
An aide to Sharon, asked about a reported green light to the army to resume targeting individual Palestinians deemed responsible for anti-Israeli attacks, said, "the army can take any necessary steps to foil terrorist attacks being prepared."
The Palestinians have accused Israel of not carrying out its commitment under the ceasefire to ease its crippling blockade on the Palestinian territories.
Despite the continued tension, Powell said Thursday he believed the elements to cement the shaky truce were "starting to come together."
There are "concrete pieces that are out there right now waiting to be connected," he said.
On the ground, meanwhile, Palestinian witnesses said Jewish settlers had run riot against Palestinians in the West Bank, blocking traffic, burning crops and beating up journalists.
Furious at the government's continued restraint, they brandished placards calling on the authorities to act.
Separately, hospital sources said six Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire during clashes in the West Bank villages of El Bireh and Al Khader following Friday Muslim prayers.
Israeli military radio said the army had advised settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories to travel in convoys or in armored vehicles on two West Bank roads to reduce the risks of attacks and enable settlers to return fire in case of ambush.
The daily Yediot Aharonot said the military also planned to use pilotless reconnaissance aircraft to spot Palestinians about to commit such attacks, following them up with combat helicopters, AFP said.
Meanwhile, the opposition Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement calling for the formation of "self-defense committees" and demanding that the Palestinian Authority "provide arms in order to oppose the aggression of the settlers."
The existence of the settlements, which have been declared illegal by the United Nations, is one of the main bones of contention in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In another tactic, settlers have launched a campaign to make the government more "virile" in its attitude towards the Palestinians by sending ministers boxes of eggs, a play on the slang Hebrew word for testicles, army radio said, cited by AFP.
Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict last September, CNN reports that Palestinians have killed approximately 112 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to CNN, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and 458 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s.
According to Amnesty International, nearly 100 of the Palestinians killed were children.
In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded, as well as over 500 killed.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
