Islamic militants attack Israeli patrol, defying Arafat's truce

JERUSALEM -- Ignoring Yasser Arafat's truce order, two members of the militant Islamic Jihad group on Friday attacked an Israeli army patrol in the Gaza Strip in a failed suicide mission. Troops killed one assailant and found remnants of an explosives belt near his body.

Also Friday, Israel lifted a blockade of Bethlehem, the second West Bank town where travel restrictions were eased this week in response to a recent drop in violence. Palestinian attacks on Israelis have decreased sharply since Dec. 16, when Arafat called for an end to attacks against Israelis, saying he has always denounced suicide bombings.

Crackdown dismissed

However, Israel's army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, on Friday dismissed Arafat's crackdown on militants, saying the Palestinian Authority itself is "infected by terror from head to toe and does everything to disrupt our lives, and to bring terrorism to our doorsteps."

The Palestinian Cabinet demanded after its weekly session Friday that the United States send its special mediator, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, back to the region as soon as possible to oversee confidence-building measures that would lead to an eventual resumption of peace talks.

Israel TV's Channel Two said Zinni was expected to return to the Middle East by next week if there is no major outburst of violence. Zinni left the region in mid- December, after a failed three-week truce mission that saw a sharp increase in violence. The U.S. State Department would not comment on Zinni's possible return.

Friday's thwarted attack in Gaza was the first major attempt by Islamic militants to challenge Arafat's truce efforts.

Hamas, the larger of the two main Islamic militant groups, has said it would suspend suicide attacks in Israel, though not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while the smaller Islamic Jihad never made a commitment to halt violence.

Friday's pre-dawn attack took place along a road near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, said the Israeli commander in the area, Lt. Col. Erez Katz.

Two assailants carrying two anti-tank missiles, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition fired on Israeli soldiers on patrol in the area, Katz said. Troops returned massive fire. At daybreak, soldiers found the decapitated body of one of the attackers and remnants of an explosives belt, Katz said.

The second attacker fled the scene, the officer said.

In a message, videotaped before the attack and aired later on the Lebanese TV station Al Manar, assailant Mahmoud Burai, 23, from the Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, said he was preparing for a suicide mission.

Islamic Jihad said in a statement released in Beirut that it remained committed to "Jihad (holy war) and resistance, using all means and in any part of our nation Palestine, until the occupation ends."

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian police closed an Islamic Jihad office Friday and two members of the group were arrested and their weapons confiscated, Palestinian security officials said.

In Gaza, meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot from a watch tower toward the refugee camp in Rafah, seriously injuring a woman walking in the street, Palestinian security officials said. Doctors at a local hospital were trying to remove the bullet lodged in the chest. The army said it was unaware of Israeli fire in the area.

Israeli troops lifted a blockade of Bethlehem on Friday to allow free travel in and out of the town. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that Israel was lifting the restrictions to ease access to holy sites during the Christmas season.

The roadblocks, which Israel says are necessary to keep out suicide bombers, have choked off West Bank Palestinian towns through most of the 15 months of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.

However, Israel reiterated Friday that it would not let Arafat out of Ramallah to participate in Orthodox Christmas in Bethlehem on Jan. 6. The international community denounced Israel's refusal to let Arafat take part in Latin Christmas celebrations this week. Israel says Arafat must arrest those suspected of assassinating an Israeli Cabinet Minister before he will be allowed to travel freely.

Although prospects for peace talks remained distant, Arafat said in remarks broadcast on Fox TV Friday that the Palestinians "are ready to be very positive" if Israel offers something concrete in talks between top Israeli and Palestinian officials on a possible framework for a peace deal.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia were to resume contacts this weekend, a Palestinian security source said. The two have been discussing a proposal under which Israel would recognize a Palestinian state as a first step in a final peace treaty.