seruriermarshal
05-03-2004, 10:13 PM
2 Killed, 17 Hurt in Gaza Missile Strike
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An Israeli attack helicopter fired a missile early Tuesday at a group of armed Palestinians in the Khan Younis refugee camp, killing two and wounding at least 17, residents and doctors said.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
Sharon Survives No-Confidence Vote
(AP Video)
The Israeli military refused to comment.
The violence came after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) pledged to come up with a new plan to replace "unilateral disengagement" from Gaza, voted down by his own party.
Witnesses said the gunmen fired two missiles at Israeli tanks in the camp before the helicopter struck.
The attack came during an Israeli military operation in two parts of the camp. Tanks and bulldozers tore down four buildings across from a Jewish settlement. witnesses said.
The Israeli operation came a day after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli vehicle on a nearby road, killing a pregnant settler and her four young daughters.
Doctors at Khan Younis hospital said five of the wounded were in critical condition. Some civilians were among the wounded, they said.
Also early Tuesday, Israeli troops took up positions around Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s office building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses said.
They said Israeli military vehicles surrounded the complex and soldiers took over buildings across from the compound. There were no reports of gunfire.
Israeli military officials said soldiers were arresting suspects, but the operation was not linked to Arafat's office.
Though Sharon's Likud Party soundly defeated his plan to pull out of Gaza in a referendum, Sharon was adamant Monday. "I want to say in the clearest fashion there will be another plan," Sharon told a meeting of Likud lawmakers, according to a participant.
Israeli officials suggested the plan — which had won U.S. backing and was popular with Israelis — would be slightly scaled down, and the new version would not be put to a Likud vote.
Sharon had proposed his "disengagement plan" as the best way to obtain security for Israel in the absence of peace moves and to defuse international pressure for greater concessions.
Residents of the Gaza settlement of Neve Dekalim, who had energetically campaigned against the plan, symbolically declared victory Monday by laying the cornerstone for a new neighborhood. "It says we're here to stay," said Esther Lilienthal, 67.
Sharon said he would present his new plan to parliament and to the Cabinet, but not to another party referendum.
"The Likud members said 'no' to a specific plan, not to all plans," Cabinet minister Tzipi Livni said.
Sharon's original plan envisioned an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers in 21 settlements, and the evacuation of four small settlements in the West Bank by the end of 2005.
The prime minister's top aide, Dov Weisglass, spoke Monday with Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, to assure her that Sharon remained committed to carrying out the plan with only minor changes, government sources said.
"He is going to carry on. He is not going to accept the status quo," Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said.
Last month Bush tried to boost Sharon's chances in the referendum, endorsing the plan and giving him unprecedented assurances that in a final peace deal, Israel would not have to withdraw from all of the West Bank.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the vote was a "setback" for Sharon. He said the disengagement plan could still be a way to move peace talks forward, but added, "I don't think we've hitched our wagon to any single effort."
Moderate members of Sharon's coalition said the disengagement plan had strong public support and demanded it be presented to the Cabinet, saying it was absurd to give a tiny fraction of the population a virtual veto over matters of such vital importance to the nation.
"Sharon promised to fulfill our request to hold a discussion on the issue in the Cabinet," said Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, leader of the centrist Shinui Party. "It isn't possible to leave the political situation frozen."
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, also of Shinui, threatened to pull out of the coalition in the absence of a peace plan and opposition Labor Party officials threatened to call for new elections.
Olmert said a Gaza withdrawal was inevitable. "There is no alternative," he told Israel's Channel 10 TV. "There is no future for 7,500 Israelis among a sea of Palestinians in Gaza."
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040504/lthumb.agaz10505040159.mideast_israel_palestinians_agaz105.jpg
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An Israeli attack helicopter fired a missile early Tuesday at a group of armed Palestinians in the Khan Younis refugee camp, killing two and wounding at least 17, residents and doctors said.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
Sharon Survives No-Confidence Vote
(AP Video)
The Israeli military refused to comment.
The violence came after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) pledged to come up with a new plan to replace "unilateral disengagement" from Gaza, voted down by his own party.
Witnesses said the gunmen fired two missiles at Israeli tanks in the camp before the helicopter struck.
The attack came during an Israeli military operation in two parts of the camp. Tanks and bulldozers tore down four buildings across from a Jewish settlement. witnesses said.
The Israeli operation came a day after Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli vehicle on a nearby road, killing a pregnant settler and her four young daughters.
Doctors at Khan Younis hospital said five of the wounded were in critical condition. Some civilians were among the wounded, they said.
Also early Tuesday, Israeli troops took up positions around Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s office building in the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses said.
They said Israeli military vehicles surrounded the complex and soldiers took over buildings across from the compound. There were no reports of gunfire.
Israeli military officials said soldiers were arresting suspects, but the operation was not linked to Arafat's office.
Though Sharon's Likud Party soundly defeated his plan to pull out of Gaza in a referendum, Sharon was adamant Monday. "I want to say in the clearest fashion there will be another plan," Sharon told a meeting of Likud lawmakers, according to a participant.
Israeli officials suggested the plan — which had won U.S. backing and was popular with Israelis — would be slightly scaled down, and the new version would not be put to a Likud vote.
Sharon had proposed his "disengagement plan" as the best way to obtain security for Israel in the absence of peace moves and to defuse international pressure for greater concessions.
Residents of the Gaza settlement of Neve Dekalim, who had energetically campaigned against the plan, symbolically declared victory Monday by laying the cornerstone for a new neighborhood. "It says we're here to stay," said Esther Lilienthal, 67.
Sharon said he would present his new plan to parliament and to the Cabinet, but not to another party referendum.
"The Likud members said 'no' to a specific plan, not to all plans," Cabinet minister Tzipi Livni said.
Sharon's original plan envisioned an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers in 21 settlements, and the evacuation of four small settlements in the West Bank by the end of 2005.
The prime minister's top aide, Dov Weisglass, spoke Monday with Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, to assure her that Sharon remained committed to carrying out the plan with only minor changes, government sources said.
"He is going to carry on. He is not going to accept the status quo," Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said.
Last month Bush tried to boost Sharon's chances in the referendum, endorsing the plan and giving him unprecedented assurances that in a final peace deal, Israel would not have to withdraw from all of the West Bank.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the vote was a "setback" for Sharon. He said the disengagement plan could still be a way to move peace talks forward, but added, "I don't think we've hitched our wagon to any single effort."
Moderate members of Sharon's coalition said the disengagement plan had strong public support and demanded it be presented to the Cabinet, saying it was absurd to give a tiny fraction of the population a virtual veto over matters of such vital importance to the nation.
"Sharon promised to fulfill our request to hold a discussion on the issue in the Cabinet," said Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, leader of the centrist Shinui Party. "It isn't possible to leave the political situation frozen."
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, also of Shinui, threatened to pull out of the coalition in the absence of a peace plan and opposition Labor Party officials threatened to call for new elections.
Olmert said a Gaza withdrawal was inevitable. "There is no alternative," he told Israel's Channel 10 TV. "There is no future for 7,500 Israelis among a sea of Palestinians in Gaza."
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040504/lthumb.agaz10505040159.mideast_israel_palestinians_agaz105.jpg