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Palestinian leadership rift worsens

An Ultra-orthodox Jew prays near an Israeli soldier guarding Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish pilgrimage site, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Israeli forces killed three Palestin-ians in operations in the Gaza Strip, as the Palestinian leadership crisis intensified, scuttling peace efforts and endangering a donors conference.

Israeli special forces went into the village of Almusader in central Gaza early yesterday and entered a house, exchanging fire with gunmen, killing one, residents said. The troops withdrew from the village two hours later.

Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said soldiers were deployed outside Khan Younis to prevent attacks by militants on Kfar Darom, an isolated Jewish settlement in Gaza. The officials said soldiers shot at two armed Palestinians and hit them. They denied that the soldiers entered a village.

A few hours earlier, not far away, two Palestinians were killed and nine wounded, including two women, in an exchange of fire between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of Khan Younis, Palestinians said.

The army said it had fired at five to seven "suspicious figures" crouched down in an unauthorized area near the fence along the Israel-Gaza border.

It said Palestinian militants have frequently tried to plant explosives in the area, and that several minutes earlier, mortar shells had been fired at the nearby Gush Katif settlement. The army had no details on casualties, saying Palestinian ambulances had evacuated the wounded.

In the West Bank town of Jenin, meanwhile, the army said it had surrounded a house where a wanted militant was believed to be hiding. Palestinian witnesses said six tanks were surrounding the house as troops waiting for the suspect to come out. The army said tanks were operating in the area, but that fewer than six were involved in the manhunt.

On Thursday, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers fired at a taxi circumventing a roadblock, killing a passenger, Palestinians said. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a passenger threw a bag at soldiers, and the taxi driver ignored orders to halt, before soldiers opened fire.

Also, in the West Bank city of Nablus, a 38-year-old woman was killed during a gunbattle between Israeli soldiers and gunmen. The woman was standing on the balcony of her home when she was hit by a bullet, doctors said.

The Palestinian leadership deadlock between Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is holding up renewal of high-level contacts with Israel, and it might derail a conference of international donors who have been supporting the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

At issue is the appointment of an interior minister who would consolidate the security forces -- some of which are under the command of Arafat -- and play a key role in possible action against violent groups.

Arafat has blocked Qureia's choice for the job, General Nasser Yousef, in part because he does not want to relinquish control over the security services. Qureia's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, was pushed out by Arafat over the same issue.

Arafat and Qureia met Thursday but failed to resolve the dispute.

The US has been pushing for consolidation of the security forces under control of the prime minister as a precursor for action against militants. However, Qureia has said he prefers a negotiated end to violence, not a crackdown.

Officials close to Finance Minister Salam Fayad said his boycott announcement was meant to pressure Arafat to stop holding up the formation of the new Cabinet.

Fayad framed his decision to stay home in legal terms, saying the one-month term of Qureia's emergency government expired Tuesday, and that an extension granted by Arafat was illegal.

In another development, a Palestinian woman who lured an Israeli teenager to his death through Internet flirtation was jailed for life by an Israeli military court.

Freelance journalist Amne Muna exploited 16-year-old Ophir Rakhum's "yearning for love" to forge an emotional bond with him through their Internet chats, which she used to tempt him to a meeting, the ruling said.

According to the charge sheet, Muna -- 24 years old at the time of the January 2001 killing -- picked Rakhum up in a car in Jerusalem and drove him a short distance into the West Bank, where two accomplices were waiting. They ordered Rakhum out of the car, and when he refused, they shot him to death, the indictment said.
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