Israeli helicopter gunships Thursday killed a leader of Fateh movement wanted for the death of a female Jewish settler, as well as two other Fateh activists in Bethlehem, Palestinian security officials told AFP.
A few hours later, Palestinian gunmen ambushed a group of Israelis on a road trip near the West Bank town of Jericho, killing one man and wounding two others, medics said.
The attacks came just a day after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) assassinated right-wing Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi.
Palestinian security officials initially said the car had been blown up by a rocket, but later said the helicopter had detonated a bomb already placed on board the vehicle, probably by a Palestinian collaborator, said AFP.
The blast killed Ataf Abayat, who was alleged to have been involved in the September 20 ambush near Bethlehem, along with Jamal Obeidallah and Issa Al Khatib.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office quoted Israeli security sources as speculating that Abayat was preparing a car bomb that detonated prematurely. It said he was responsible for the deaths of five Israelis.
Abayat was the leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fateh.
In almost immediate response, Palestinian resistance fighters opened fire on the neighboring Jewish settlement of Gilo, on the southern fringes of occupied Jerusalem.
Around 1,000 furious Palestinians also swarmed around the Bethlehem prison, threatening to storm the building and lynch men jailed for collaborating with the Israelis, said the agency.
The last time Gilo came under fire in late August, Sharon sent tanks into the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, sparking days of fierce gunbattles with Palestinians.
Bullets damaged several houses and an army outpost facing the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, an army spokeswoman said. No injuries were reported.
Witnesses said a mortar was also fired, which caused no damage or injuries.
Palestinian collaborators are often blamed for Israel's pinpoint hits on Palestinian militants inside Palestinian-controlled territory. A number have been jailed and two executed, while several others suspected of spying for Israel have been shot in their homes.
Palestinian police tried to arrest Abayat on October 2, but his men refused to allow him to be detained and threatened to attack Gilo, officials said.
As a compromise, Abayat reportedly signed a document acknowledging he was under arrest.
Israel reactivated its policy of assassinating Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis last Sunday. Palestinians allege that some 65 people have died in Israeli extra-judicial executions.
According to the secretary of the Palestinian cabinet, Ahmad Abdul Rahman, speaking to Al Jazeera satellite channel, the number of assassinated Palestinians reached 69 before the new killings.
Three other Palestinians, including a 12-year-old schoolgirl, were killed in an Israeli tank incursion into the West Bank towns of Jenin and Ramallah earlier in the day.
The foray into Palestinian autonomous areas came just hours after another member of the PFLP blew himself up by an army patrol in southern Israel, wounding two Israeli soldiers close to the boundary with the Gaza Strip.
The latest killings brought the death toll from nearly 13 months of unrest in the region to 885, including 685 Palestinians and 178 Israelis.
The nearly 13-month Palestinian uprising aims at throwing off 34 years of Israeli military occupation and establishing an independent country.
The Palestinian Authority warned that Israel's tactics risked tipping the crisis out of its control, while also claiming that Israel planned to assassinate Arafat himself.
Israeli spokesman Dore Gold dismissed the claim as a "baseless smokescreen" to mask the Palestinian Authority's own responsibility for failing to prevent Zeevi's killing - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
