Israel kills 2 Gaza militants, Olmert talks peace

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed two Palestinian militants in
an air strike on Monday hours after its interim prime minister,
Ehud Olmert, voiced hope of continued talks with the
Palestinian Authority despite Hamas’ recent election win.

An Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car in the
northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said, killing two local leaders
of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.

The Israeli military said the men were en route to fire
rockets into the Jewish state. It was the third such air strike
in as many days, with a total of 7 Gaza militants killed.

Al-Aqsa vowed revenge. “Our answer is open war on all
Zionists, soldiers and civilians,” said spokesman Abu Qusai.

Olmert said Israel hoped for continued peace talks with
Abbas as long as he remained independent of the Islamic
militant group Hamas, which is trying to form a new Palestinian
government after defeating Fatah in January 25 elections.

Abbas has said the new government must respect interim
peace deals made by the Palestinian Authority with Israel. But
Hamas does not recognize Israel and its charter calls for the
destruction of the Jewish state.

Abbas agreed a ceasefire with Israel a year ago, but
peacemaking has been stalled, with the Israeli government
demanding he carry out commitments under a U.S.-backed “road
map” to disarm militant groups.

“We have no interest in hurting the head of the Palestinian
Authority, Abu Mazen,” Olmert said in a broadcast speech.

“As long as he does not cooperate with Hamas and the
Palestinian government is not a Hamas government, we will
cooperate with the Palestinian Authority cautiously and
responsibly,” he said.

SETTLEMENT EXPANSIONS

Olmert’s comments coincided with a report in the Haaretz
newspaper that Abbas recently sent emissaries to tell Israeli
officials he would continue to be responsible for diplomatic
contacts with Israel after Hamas’s win.

The Israeli daily said Abbas had requested Israel keep up
dialogue with him, receiving Olmert’s assurance that he would.

A Hamas leader said on Saturday the group hoped to form a
government later this month after agreeing with Abbas to
convene parliament on February 16.

Olmert, who has threatened unilateral moves in the absence
of a peace partner, said Israel wanted to avoid “playing into
the hands of extremists” and missing “the chance that may exist
for new hope for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Israel has failed to meet its road map obligation of
halting construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West
Bank.

Israel’s left-wing watchdog group Peace Now said Israel had
stepped up the expansion of settlements and failed to remove
scores of unauthorized West Bank outposts.

Most of the building was in large settlement blocs Israel
hopes to keep under any peace deal, but Palestinians say these
settlements would deny them a viable state. Israel quit Gaza,
another territory where Palestinians seek statehood, last year.

In his speech to a Tel Aviv business conference, Olmert
said Israel wanted to strengthen Palestinians who “recognize
Israel’s right to live without terror, within secure borders”
– a clear nod toward Abbas.

That was the reasoning, he said, behind his cabinet’s
decision on Sunday to transfer to the Palestinian Authority
nearly $55 million in tax revenues Israel collects monthly on
behalf of the Palestinians under interim peace deals.

Israel had frozen the funds, pending a policy review, after
Hamas won the election. While demanding that Hamas renounce
violence and recognize Israel, the United States pressured
Israel to release the money, vital to the Palestinian economy.

Palestinian Economy Minister Mazen Sonnoqrot said he would
ask international envoy James Wolfensohn this week to release
$300 million in aid for the cash-strapped Palestinian
Authority.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, and
Jeffrey Heller and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem)