Militant killed in missile strike; Israel widens campaign Hamas

JERUSALEM -- Despite appeals to break a cycle of attack and counterattack, Israel broadened its campaign against Palestinian militants Friday, saying it will strike political as well as military leaders who target Israel with terrorism.

In new attacks against Hamas on Friday -- the sixth and seventh in four days -- Israel killed an operative of the group in a missile attack in Gaza City and three hours later fired rockets at a building just a block from the home of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

The first attack also injured 32 Palestinians, including 10 children, doctors said. The building targeted in the second strike was a weapons factory, the Israeli military said. There was no immediate word of casualties.

Thirty-six Palestinians and 24 Israelis have been killed since President Bush launched a peace plan at a summit last week.

Secretary of State Colin Powell called for restraint by all sides, though he emphasized that it was important to halt terror strikes in order to stop the cycle of violence.

"I think we all are anxious to see restraint," Powell said Friday outside the State Department.

"And we understand that it's important to get the terror down. And if the terror goes down, then the response to terror will no longer be required."

Concerned over the escalating violence, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview published Friday that deploying armed peacekeepers -- an idea opposed by Israel -- may be the only way to keep the warring parties apart long enough to begin implementing the so-called "road map" to peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005.

The plan envisions an increased role for international monitors, but does not call for armed peacekeepers.

A first contingent of 10 to 15 U.S. monitors, including CIA and State Department officials, was to arrive in the region today, headed by Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf.

Israel TV reported that Dov Weisglass, a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was flying to Washington for talks with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has said he won't use force against the Islamic militant group Hamas and other militants and needs time to persuade them to lay down arms. Egypt is mediating, and talks might be held next week between militant leaders and Egypt's intelligence chief, Palestinian officials said.

Hamas broke off truce talks with Abbas last week, prompting Israel to activate a contingency plan for hunting down Hamas leaders, including the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, an Israeli security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In the past 32 months of fighting, Israel has killed more than 100 wanted Palestinians in targeted attacks, including many from the Hamas military wing. The group's top political leaders were largely left alone, possibly because of Israel's fear of a bloody backlash.

After Hamas rejection of a cease-fire, however, the group's leaders were marked for death, said the Israeli security official. They are considered "ticking bombs" -- and therefore legitimate targets -- because they set policy and order attacks on Israelis, the official said.

"There is no immunity for anybody who either orders or executes terrorist activities," said Avi Pazner, a government spokesman.

In a first such strike, Israel tried this week to kill Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas co-founder and spokesman. Rantisi escaped a missile strike with minor injuries, but in response, a Hamas bomber blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus a day later, killing 17 people.

Israel has targeted members of the Hamas military wing in six rocket attacks this week, the latest on Friday. Helicopter gunships on Friday fired three missiles at a car carrying Hamas operatives who, according to the military, had launched homemade rockets at Israel earlier in the day.

The missiles hit the car as it was driving in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, killing a Hamas militant tentatively identified as Fuad Ledawi. At the time, the street was crowded with worshippers walking to a nearby mosque for evening prayers. Three of the 32 wounded were in critical condition.

Though the government insists such attacks are the only way to stamp out the militants, an Israeli opinion poll suggested the new policy is unpopular.

Sixty-seven percent of 501 respondents said Israel should halt targeted killings, at least for a while, to allow Abbas to strengthen his shaky position and act against the militants. The poll published in Yediot had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

The road map requires Abbas to dismantle and disarm militias, but he has said he cannot and will not use force against them for fear of setting off a civil war.

Annan told the Israeli daily Haaretz in an interview published Friday that the impasse can only be broken by armed peacekeepers. "In the interim period, I would like to see an armed peace keeping force act as a buffer between the Israelis and the Palestinians," he said.

Palestinians have long called for such a force. Responding to Annan, Palestinian Cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said an armed force "is the only realistic solution to get out of this cycle of violence and counter-violence." Abed Rabbo said American involvement would be crucial.

Israel rejected the idea.

"Right now, the only thing that binds Israel and the Palestinian is the road map. In the road map, there is a place for American monitors, nothing else. That is Israel's position," said Raanan Gissin, a Sharon adviser.

Israel opposes placing its security in the hands of a third party, particularly one backed by the United Nations or the European Union, seen by Israel as having a strong anti-Israel bias.

The United Nations belongs to the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators, along with the United States, Russia and the EU. Senior Quartet members, including Powell, were to meet in Jordan next week to discuss the road map.

Also Friday, Abbas was in Jordon where he underwent successful surgery for cataracts in both eyes. His doctor said Abbas was expected to return home Saturday and return to work.