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Israeli, Baby Girl Murdered in Rosh Shana Terror Attack
INA and Wire Services Jerusalem----September 27......A Palestinian terrorist broke into a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Friday and opened fire in a home where a family was marking the Jewish New Year, murdering a man and a toddler and shattering Israel's peace and security efforts to maintain calm over the holiday.
The Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed by soldiers guarding the settlement, said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman. Two other Israelis also were wounded in the attack on Negahot, near the West Bank city of Hebron, he said. "We have two dead people, a 28-year-old man and a baby girl of two months," an emergency medical worker said by telephone from the Negohot settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron. Yassar Arafat - A cancer to both Israeli and Palestinian people must be removed. Israel has accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of directly encouraging terror attacks, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview published Friday he was determined to "remove" Arafat one day, even at the risk of harming him. Arafat, who had walked out of the Camp David peace talks and chose terrorism, rather than peace for the Palestinians, was kicked out of Jordan in 1971 (Black September) for attempting to overthrow King Hussein with the aid of Syria. During Israel's Operation Defensive Shield, Israeli military intelligence discovered rooms of documents directly relating Arafat to terrorist activities against Israeli civilians and bank checks originating from Iranian, Syrian and Saudi banks earmarked for the purchase of weapons. The Israeli capture of the Karine A terror ship off Gaza last year with tons of weapons was further proof of Arafat's duplicity as he spoke of the "peace of the brave" while coordinating dozens of acts of Palestinian terrorism. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's Rosh Shana eve Palestinian terror attack. In the past three years of fighting, Palestinians have repeatedly attacked Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "BARBARIC ATTACK" "This shows again the ugly face of Palestinian terrorists," said Jonathan Peled, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.
He said it
would take time to decide how to respond to the attack but expected
no major change in policy. Israel has responded to recent suicide
bombings and other attacks by launching missile strikes to kill
Islamic terrorist leaders. The terrorism began about 9 p.m. when a Palestinian armed with an M-16 rifle infiltrated the isolated settlement, Dallal said. The man knocked on the door of one house and fatally shot a guest, a 30-year-old man, who answered the door, he said. A young girl also was shot and her parents were slightly wounded, he said. The girl's age was not given. The owner of the house and a soldier opened fire at the Palestinian terrorist, who tried to escape and while fleeing fired a number of rounds at the house, one of which hit and critically wounded a seven-month-old baby who also died a short while later. An army reserve unit that rushed to the scene killed the terrorist. The wounded
- the girl's father and a woman - were taken to Barzilai Hospital
in Ashkelon, and the woman has since been released to her home.
"It's no coincidence that this attack was planned for this hour, the night of the Jewish New Year," Dallal said. "Clearly, the people behind the attack knew they could find families at home during the holiday dinner."
Several terror attacks have been carried out during Jewish holidays in the past three years, most notably the March 27, 2002, suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in the northern coastal town of Netanya that murdered 29 people participating in the ritual Passover meal. In an effort to prevent possible attacks over the holiday, the Israeli military tightened a Palestinian travel ban in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All Palestinians were banned from entering Israel, and Palestinians in most of the West Bank were barred from leaving their communities. Thousands of police were sent to guard synagogues, parks and intersections in Israel. Israel has received more than 40 warnings about possible terror attacks over the two-day New Year's holiday, which began Friday evening, government spokesman Avi Pazner said. The fate of Arafat, who is holed up in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, was thrown into question Sept. 11, when Israel's security Cabinet called for his removal. Sharon told the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot that the security Cabinet's decision canceled a promise he made to President Bush several years ago not to physically harm the Palestinian leader. "Bush asked me not to harm him physically and I promised ... The Cabinet decision is a kind of cancellation of the promise," Sharon said. "You have to keep in mind that it is very difficult to ensure that he (Arafat) won't be harmed if we seize him." Other top Israeli officials have said the term "removal" could mean both expulsion and assassination, but Sharon's remarks seemed to suggest the first choice is to oust Arafat. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sharon's comments proved Israel was trying to kill Arafat and was not committed to implementing the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. "It's no longer a matter of whether they will kill President Arafat, it's a matter of when," Erekat said.
Meanwhile, the incoming Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, said he has concluded consultations on his new Cabinet and will present it to parliament for approval within the coming days. Leaders of the ruling Fatah party will meet Saturday to discuss and approve the new ministers, Palestinian officials said. At least two Cabinet members — Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Finance Minister Salam Fayad — will keep their jobs, the officials said. Qureia has given Fatah — and thereby Arafat — considerable say in forming the Cabinet. Qureia has said that, unlike predecessor Mahmoud Abbas, he will not challenge Arafat. Israel has said it would not deal with an Arafat-controlled Cabinet. However, Sharon has not ruled out doing business with Qureia, whom he has met repeatedly in recent years.
In the interview with Yediot, Sharon said he would judge him on his deeds, not his statements. Israel wants the Palestinians to dismantle Palestinian terror groups, as required by the peace plan, but Qureia has suggested he will not use force to do so. Sharon also indicated that prisoners held in Europe could be part of a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. Israeli newspapers reported Friday that several Iranian and Lebanese prisoners held in England and Germany might be traded for information on missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, who Israel says is held by Iran after being shot down over Lebanon in 1986. As part of the emerging deal, Israel would free several hundred Arab prisoners, many of them Palestinians terrorists, in exchange for Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2000. Also Friday, Izzat Abu Sweireh, 68, died in Gaza of injuries he sustained last week when his son, Jihan, a Hamas member, was killed by Israel. In the West Bank, Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Khalil Abu Alrob, 21, also died from the wounds he sustained last week during violence. |
