TEL AVIV, May 8: Fresh violence erupted on Thursday as Israel and the Palestinians each prepared to urge US Secretary of State Colin Powell to pressure the other over implementation of a peace “roadmap” during a weekend visit.

An Israeli helicopter attack killed a Hamas militant in Gaza City, provoking cries for revenge from the radical movement, while a senior Palestinian Authority official said it was an Israeli bid to sabotage the new peace plan.

Israel also reiterated it could not pull back from reoccupied Palestinian self-rule areas until the new administration of prime minister Mahmoud Abbas had started to wage war on Palestinian militant groups.

An Apache helicopter fired three rockets at the car of Ayad el-Beik, a member of Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, killing him instantly.

The attack came hours after another Palestinian man, who was not immediately identified, was killed by Israeli gunfire in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

In another incident, an explosives-laden car driven by a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded near an Israeli tank in the vicinity of the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.

Moments earlier, another Palestinian opened fire on Israeli troops in the same area, and they returned fire.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian civilian was also shot dead by Israeli troops in unclear circumstances.

Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi reacted furiously to the latest strike against the main faction opposing implementation of the international peace roadmap, which will be the focus of Mr Powell’s two-day visit.

“This is a Zionist terrorist attack. Anyone participating in the implementation of the roadmap is associating with the Zionist plan to shed Palestinian blood,” Rantissi said, in allusion to Abbas’ pledged commitment to the plan.

“There will be revenge, and if the Zionist massacres against our people continue, our resistance will escalate,” he said.

A top aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also decried the attack launched ahead of Powell’s arrival on Saturday.

“This Israeli aggression and escalation is aimed at destroying the roadmap and sabotaging Powell’s visit,” said Nabil Abu Rudeina. He called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its controversial policy of “targeted killings” of Palestinian militants.

“What we want from Powell’s visit is pressure on Israel to immediately implement the roadmap. If Powell does not obtain this result, the roadmap will be condemned,” Abu Rudeina warned.

The proposal unveiled last week is a three-stage plan to halt 31 months of bloodshed, revive negotiations and create a Palestinian state by 2005.

Both sides have argued that the plan, drawn up by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, calls on the other to take the first step toward implementation.

The Palestinians want Israel to quit West Bank areas reoccupied since a wave of suicide bombings last June, while Israel insists the Palestinians must first crack down on powerful militant groups hostile to the roadmap.—AFP