TEL AVIV, Feb 18: Four Israelis were killed in two separate Palestinian suicide attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced mounting criticism that he has no clear plan to end the conflict.
And despite a fresh meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei, the peace plan they have drawn up was panned by politicians on both the left and the right.
An Israeli woman and two soldiers were killed in a Palestinian attack on a convoy heading across the Gaza Strip to the Jewish settlement of Gadid, settler sources said.
The assailant opened automatic gunfire on his victims before killing himself by triggering an explosive device he was carrying, television said, adding another Israeli was injured in the attack.
The previous deaths in the increasingly vicious 16-month-old Palestinian intifada came on the outskirts of occupied Al Quds.
Two Israeli police working on an anonymous tipoff stopped a suspect vehicle on the road linking the holy city to the West Bank town of Jericho. As the police questioned the Palestinian driver and searched the vehicle, the man detonated a car bomb, killing himself and one officer.
The attack came just 24 hours after a similar incident near the northern Israeli town of Hadera, when two traffic police spotted a suspect car with two Palestinian men inside.
In that attack, a Palestinian gunman leapt out the car as police stopped it near an Israeli army base and started shooting, but was quickly gunned down. His accomplice sped off and blew up his vehicle, with himself inside.
Five Israelis, including three policemen, were injured in that incident late on Sunday.
Israeli forces also intercepted three other Palestinians rigged out with explosive devices in the West Bank on Sunday, one of which was reportedly heading for Al Quds.
Sharon, drawing increasing flak for failing to deliver on election pledges to get tough on the uprising that has left 1,225 dead, mostly Palestinians, was meeting army chiefs late on Monday to weigh his response to a spate of attacks that has killed at least seven Israelis since Thursday.—AFP
