Israeli couple, 2 Gaza gunmen die in new violence

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian militants killed an Israeli
couple in an ambush at the Gaza border on Sunday shortly after
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended her mission to shore
up a fragile ceasefire before Israel’s Gaza pullout.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under pressure from
Jewish ultranationalists who call the plan to cede occupied
land a reward for a Palestinian uprising, promised a tough
response to the shooting at Kissufim border crossing.

“Israel will not make its peace with this terrorism,” he
told his cabinet.

“I made clear to the secretary of state that our response
will be of a different kind, using very tough new measures,”
Sharon added without elaborating.

Israeli troops killed two gunmen who carried out the
ambush, for which the militant groups Islamic Jihad, the
Popular Resistance Committees, and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
part of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group, claimed
responsibility.

Rice wrapped up a three-day visit to the region aimed at
preserving a shaky truce Israeli and Palestinian leaders
declared in February and to ensure Israel’s planned pullout
from Gaza next month goes smoothly in the wake of fresh
violence.

The militants fired at a vehicle on its way out of Gush
Katif settlement bloc, killing an Israeli couple who had made a
weekend visit from Jerusalem, the army and police said.

The militant groups involved said they were still committed
to the truce but vowed more attacks if Israel continued to
arrest or kill Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

“We are committed to calm but are also committed to
responding to Zionist violations (of the ceasefire),” an
Islamic Jihad spokesman said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the
shooting of the Israeli couple “a senseless act of violence.”

“The incident underscores the need for the parties working
individually and in cooperation to maintain an atmosphere of
calm free from violence during this period in the run-up to the
withdrawal and during the Gaza disengagement,” he told
reporters aboard Rice’s plane as she flew home from Israel.

RICE PRAISES ABBAS’S EFFORTS

Rice earlier praised efforts by Abbas to stop militants but
said more action needed to be taken against them, especially to
ensure Palestinian attacks do not hamper Israel’s withdrawal
from Gaza, its first from land Palestinians want as a state.

Gaza gunmen have increased rocket and mortar bomb attacks
despite the truce. Israel has vowed to strike back at militants
who may try to disrupt its planned withdrawal from all 21
settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank.

Israel has killed 15 Palestinians, mainly gunmen, since a
Palestinian suicide bombing killed five Israelis earlier this
month. It has also resumed air strikes against militants.

Washington sees the pullout as a step toward reviving peace
talks. Israeli settlers and right-wingers, who view the West
Bank and Gaza as their biblical birthright, say the pullout
would reward Palestinian militants.

Palestinians welcome the move but fear Sharon will
strengthen the Israeli hold on the West Bank under what he
calls “disengagement” from conflict.

Rice also urged Israel on Saturday not to seal off Gaza
from the outside world after the pullout, echoing a key
Palestinian demand. Palestinian officials said Israel had not
done enough to discuss critical aspects of the plan.

Some 8,500 settlers would leave Gaza, home to 1.4 million
Palestinians. But only a few hundred of more than 230,000
settlers will be removed from the West Bank, where they live
alongside 2.4 million Palestinians. (Additional reporting by
Saul Hudson and Corinne Heller in Jerusalem)