Israel kills two Palestinian militants as truce ends

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli artillery fire killed two
Palestinian militants in Gaza on Saturday after rocket attacks
were launched from the area, Palestinian security sources said,
as a truce declared by militant groups drew to a close.

The killings of the men marked the first such casualties
since the Israeli army imposed a “no-go” zone in the area,
using air strikes and artillery fire to target Gaza militants
to try to curb rocket attacks.

The violence came after Palestinian militants repeated
their threat to abandon a de facto truce at the start of 2006,
marking a further challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas ahead of a crucial Palestinian election.

A statement dated January 1 by Hamas, which is sworn to
destroying Israel and has led a suicide bombing campaign since
the start of a 2000 uprising, said Israel would “pay the price
for its crimes committed against our people in northern Gaza.”

Israel has demanded that Abbas disarm gunmen as a condition
to renewing a “road map” peace plan. Abbas vowed on Saturday to
impose law and order, following the kidnapping of three Britons
and a surge of internal Palestinian unrest.

Palestinian militants, frustrated over poverty and alleged
corruption within Abbas’s Fatah party and security forces, have
kidnapped foreigners and briefly seized government buildings in
recent months, demanding jobs.

“It is time to impose the authority of law and order,”
Abbas said in a New Year message broadcast on Palestinian
television.

“These events … harm our international credibility and
strengthen Israel’s pretext to undermine peace and stop
withdrawals.”

CHALLENGE TO ABBAS

The Palestinian leader’s ruling Fatah faction faces a
strong challenge from Hamas in January 25 legislative
elections, despite Israeli and U.S. objections to the
participation of Hamas in the polls.

Officials from Fatah have urged Abbas to postpone the
ballot after Israel threatened to bar the vote from being held
in East Jerusalem in protest at Hamas taking part.

The killings of the two Palestinians in northern Gaza by
Israeli artillery fire from near the border marked the last
fatality in Israeli-Palestinian violence in 2005, which saw the
longest lull in bloodshed since the start of the uprising.

Palestinian suicide bombings and frequent rocket attacks by
militants, and Israeli strikes in Gaza and West Bank raids, had
strained the nine-month truce. Both sides have accused the
other of breaching it.

Israel says its military action against Palestinian
militants is a substitute for what it says is Abbas’s inability
to act against them himself. The Palestinian leader has
preferred to negotiate with the groups.

Israel fears Hamas could make strong gains in the
Palestinian vote and win a considerable amount of influence in
parliament, which could threaten future peace talks. The Jewish
state says it will never negotiate with militant groups.

Support for Hamas has grown since the Palestinian uprising
began, a trend that has accelerated in the wake of Israel’s
pullout from Gaza after 38 years of military rule, and since a
rift within Fatah surfaced.

Hamas gained control of large West Bank cities and much of
the Gaza Strip in municipal elections held in several rounds
during 2005, and is expected to perform strongly in the
parliamentary ballot in January.

(Additional reporting by Corinne Heller in Jerusalem)