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Israel kills 5 in attempt to assassinate Hamas man
A senior Hamas leader survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Gaza Strip Wednesday but at least five other Palestinians were killed in the explosion that tore through his home.
Addressing demands for anti-corruption reforms that have also been fueled by expectation of a withdrawal, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat made a rare suggestion he could have been at fault and urged efforts to correct "all the mistakes."
Hamas gunmen said a missile fired by an Israeli drone hit the home of Ahmed al-Jabari, a top commander in the militant Islamic group's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades. Doctors said he suffered leg wounds.
The army acknowledged the attack in a terse statement but did not say how it was carried out.
Sharon plans to pull Jewish settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip by the end of next year and Israeli forces and Palestinian militants are bent on winning "victory" in the run-up to the withdrawal.
Medics said five people, including Jabari's son, were pronounced dead in hospital and about a dozen others were wounded. At least three of the dead were known militants.
"Revenge is inevitably coming," said senior Hamas leader Ahmad Bahar inside the mosque where the bodies were laid.
Hamas, dedicated to destroying Israel, has carried out dozens of suicide attacks during a nearly 4-year-old Palestinian uprising.
SHARON TRIES TO AVOID EMBARRASSMENT
On the Israeli political front, Sharon tried to avoid defeat later Wednesday at the hands of party nationalists who oppose ceding Gaza and say it would "reward Palestinian terror."
At a snap Likud convention, the rebels plan to vote against Sharon's proposed alliance with the dovish Labor party in a coalition to push through the withdrawal plan.
Sharon's aides said he was trying to reach a compromise to avoid defeat in the non-binding vote, which would be more an embarrassment than politically damaging, but that he planned to pursue coalition talks whatever the result.
In what confidants called an attempt to blunt Likud resistance ahead of the vote, Sharon had approved 1,000 more settler homes in the West Bank. The package had been shelved several weeks ago to avoid discord with Washington, which wants settlement building frozen to support peace moves.
U.S. officials said Washington was studying details of the tenders before passing judgment.
But one reason for the light U.S. response to the housing bids was speculation within the Bush administration that Sharon needed the move for short-term political purposes and might not follow through on it, one U.S. official said.
Polls show most Israelis support a withdrawal from Gaza, where 8,000 settlers live in heavily protected enclaves alongside 1.3 million Palestinians.
Palestinians would welcome a withdrawal, though they fear it will be at the cost of a stronger Israeli hold on the West Bank. The prospect of a pullout has driven Palestinian internal rivalries and demands for anti-corruption reform that boiled over last month in an unprecedented wave of unrest. Addressing lawmakers Wednesday, Arafat acknowledged that Palestinian officials had misused their posts and made a rare suggestion that he himself could have done more. "There is nobody immune from mistakes, starting from me on down. Even prophets committed mistakes," he said. "We need to move together to correct and reform all the mistakes." |
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