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GAZA, Oct 16: A Hamas fighter was killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, drawing vows of revenge by the hardline group for the deaths of three of its members in the past three days.
Hamas blamed Israel for the blast and said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — whose government has a policy of killing Palestinian guerillas — would “pay a very dear price”.
The cause of the explosion was not clear, however. The Israeli army said it knew nothing of the incident, nor of a blast that killed a Hamas man on Monday. Israel did, however, acknowledge killing a Hamas member on Sunday.
Hamas has not retaliated since Israel renewed its lethal strategy this week against Palestinians it says have been behind attacks on Israeli targets during the year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
The Israeli government had suspended the killings after ceasefire talks between its dovish foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sept 26.
Peres said on Tuesday Israel would end its policy if Palestinian authorities rounded up more than 100 wanted activists on Israel’s list.
“We don’t like this policy ourselves. We have been left without a choice,” Peres told reporters during a visit to Prague. “I wish that there would be no necessity for it.”
Peres also said Israel favoured the creation of an independent Palestinian state but that Arafat first had to rein in violent activists and work to firm up the fragile ceasefire to pave the way for political moves.
The Israeli policy has threatened to create new strains in relations between Israel and its key ally, the United States, which has opposed the tactic.
But Sharon adviser Zalman Shoval said Israel was simply fighting “Palestinian terrorism” the same way the United States was waging war on Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden.
INVESTIGATION: Palestinian security officials said they were investigating the cause of Tuesday’s explosion that killed a 28-year-old Hamas activist in his home near the Rafah refugee camp, a frequent flashpoint of violence in the past year.
Some Palestinian militants have blown themselves up while preparing explosives, but Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi wasted no time in pointing the finger of blame at Israel.
“Our enemy is behind this action and crime,” he told Reuters.
Hamas, which opposes Israel’s existence, has spearheaded a campaign of suicide bombings against the Jewish state since the start of the Palestinian revolt. At least 626 Palestinians and 175 Israelis have been killed in a year of violence.
The United States and Britain have pressed both sides to reopen peace talks to remove what they see as a major obstacle to Arab support for Western military strikes on Afghanistan.
U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have both appealed to Arab public opinion with statements in support of a Palestinian state.
Peres, who faces resistance from right-wingers in Sharon’s government to further talks with Arafat, said negotiations and not military power were the way towards a peaceful solution:
“We want to see an independent Palestinian state, successful, flourishing. We think that the better the Palestinians will have it, the better neighbour we shall have.”
Asked about Palestinian statehood on his return to Gaza from the Netherlands on Tuesday, Arafat said: “It’s necessary that it be established quickly.”
Sharon has also expressed support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, although the boundaries he envisions for that entity fall far short of Palestinian aspirations.
Sharon recently ordered the easing of a crippling blockade of Palestinian areas in response to relative calm in most of those districts. But Palestinian officials said roadblocks and checkpoints continued to plague parts of the West Bank and Gaza.—Reuters
