Israel kills 4 Gaza militants in air strike

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed four Palestinian militants
in an air attack in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the latest in
a series of military actions following a suicide bombing in the
Jewish state last week.

The missile strike, which broke a six-day lull in such
attacks, came against the backdrop of clashes between rival
gunmen of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party in
a new sign of turmoil ahead of next month’s parliamentary
polls.

The Israeli air raid plus Palestinian cross-border rockets
added to a spiral of violence that has diminished chances of
resuming peace efforts, on hold as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon faces a campaign for re-election in a March poll.

Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft fired on a car near the
Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel, killing three members
of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of militants,
and one from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Fatah.

A fifth occupant of the car, and two bystanders, were
wounded, medics said.

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, Abu
Abir, vowed revenge for the attack, urging Israelis in Sderot,
a town near Gaza often hit by rockets, “to flee their homes
because soon our rockets will target them.”

An Israeli military spokesman said the army hit “terrorists
on the way to carry out an attack.” Israel launched a new
campaign of targeted strikes after an Islamic Jihad suicide
bomber killed five Israelis at a shopping mall on December 5.

Sharon, who quit his rightist Likud party last month to
form a new centrist movement, wants to counter rightist
opponents’ accusations that Israel’s Gaza pullout in September
was a reward to militants and showed he was soft on the
Palestinians.

INTERNAL PALESTINIAN STRIFE

Earlier on Wednesday, three people including a bystander
were wounded in the internal Palestinian clashes, which broke
out after dozens of gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
poured into Fatah’s Gaza headquarters to demand jobs.

They then clashed with rival gunmen, also from Fatah, who
wanted them to leave. It was the third straight day of turmoil
in Gaza, seen as a testing ground for Palestinian statehood
following Israel’s pullout after 38 years of occupation.

The violence highlighted escalating divisions in Fatah
ahead of elections due in January in which Hamas militant
rivals are expected to mount a serious challenge to Fatah’s
traditional dominance in parliament.

A flare-up of election-related violence in Gaza on Tuesday
prompted Palestinian election officials to suspend operations,
but Gaza offices re-opened on Wednesday after security forces
deployed outside to protect them.

The election, viewed as a test of Abbas’s leadership, comes
as he is struggling to contain unrest in Gaza where factions
are vying for sway after Israel’s pullout.

“We can’t allow a group or a handful of armed groups or
militias to threaten the holding of elections in a fair and
free environment. We can’t allow them to hijack the electoral
process,” West Bank lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said.

She said she would run for parliament on an independent
ticket along with Salam Fayyad, who resigned as finance
minister last month and has battled parliament over its refusal
to implement fiscal reforms he recommended.

Militants, worried they will not be fairly represented on
Fatah’s ticket following complaints about the handling of the
ruling party’s primary ballot, have stormed election offices in
recent days demanding a delay in a January 25 poll.

They want elections postponed so that Fatah can repeat
party primaries that were halted in some areas following fraud
allegations and violence by gunmen, some from the al-Aqsa
group.

The gunmen, who spent years battling Israel but sometimes
felt marginalised in Fatah because of the dominance of Old
Guard leaders, fear unless Fatah picks its candidates in a
popular vote it would have a hard time beating back Hamas at
the polls.

Abbas has vowed to hold elections on time even as fears
rise that voting could be marred by violence.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Wafa
Amr in Ramallah)