Israel mounts new Gaza strike, raids West Bank

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel launched a new strike on the Gaza
Strip and arrested over 200 suspected militants in a massive
sweep in the West Bank on Sunday after warning Palestinians of
a crushing response to rocket attacks from Gaza.

The worst surge of violence since Israel’s pullout from
Gaza on September 12 after 38 years of occupation put pressure
on a shaky ceasefire and on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he
tried to beat off a rightist leadership challenge over the
withdrawal.

A helicopter fired two missiles in northern Gaza early on
Sunday. A military source said the missiles targeted buildings
used by militants. There were no immediate reports of
casualties a day after similar strikes killed two militants.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested 207 suspected
Islamic militants in the toughest crackdown for months. Among
those held were Hamas leaders Hassan Youssef and Mohammed
Ghazal.

An Israeli army general said the arrests were among
measures chosen to discourage Palestinian rocket fire.

Sharon’s inner cabinet also agreed to resume assassinations
of militant leaders, suspended since a February truce, and gave
an unprecedented green light for the use of artillery to stop
rocket salvoes.

“We have taken the liberty to use all weapons in order to
remove this threat,” said Major-General Israel Ziv. “This
operation is not limited in time.”

Urging the United States to restrain Israel, top
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the attacks and arrests
“lead in one direction and that is to the collapse of the
ceasefire.”

The latest spiral of violence began when a blast killed 15
people at a Hamas rally in Gaza on Friday.

Hamas blamed Israel and militants fired at least 40 rockets
into the Jewish state in response, though Israel denied
responsibility and the Palestinian Authority said it appeared
to be an accident caused by Hamas members carrying explosives.

VENGEANCE CALLS

After Israeli helicopters hit Gaza, the military wing of
Hamas said it was “time to strike with all our might.”

Hamas has so far largely abided by a truce Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas agreed with Israel in February and
which helped smooth the Israeli pullout from Gaza.

Palestinian officials condemned “Israeli aggression,” but
Abbas also strongly criticized militants for keeping explosives
in built-up areas, calling their actions a “massacre.”

The violence could have an impact when Sharon battles on
Sunday to hold on to the leadership of his ruling Likud party
in a showdown triggered by rightist rival Benjamin Netanyahu’s
opposition to the Gaza pullout.

Netanyahu opposed the Gaza withdrawal and said that it
would bring more violence rather than meaning the
“disengagement” from conflict that Sharon said he sought.

The vote by Likud’s more than 3,000 central committee
members on Monday could turn Israeli politics on its head, and
prompt Sharon to leave the party and form a new centrist
alliance.

Opinion polls show the outcome is too close to call,
although Netanyahu — who quit as Sharon’s finance minister in
August over Gaza — has a slight lead among central committee
members in the run-up to the vote.

The bloodshed is also a major challenge for Abbas, who has
shied away from disarming militant groups such as Hamas — an
Israeli condition for talks on Palestinian statehood — because
of fears it could lead to civil war.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)