TEL AVIV, Oct 17: An unidentified man gunned down Israel’s ultranationalist Tourism Minister Rehevam Zeevi on Wednesday, setting back the peace process once again as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed a new era of war on terrorism and threw down the gauntlet to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The gunman shot Zeevi in the face at the door of his hotel room in the eastern sector of occupied Al Quds. His wife found him in a pool of blood and he was rushed to hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for shooting Zeevi, a 75-year-old former general who advocated the “transfer” of Arabs from land claimed by Jews.—AFP/Reuters