Four militants and soldier killed in Gaza violence

FOUR Palestinian militants and an Israeli soldier were killed yesterday in the heaviest Gaza fighting since Yasser Arafat’s death, raising the prospect that renewed violence could complicate a vote for his successor.

Adding to uncertainty over the January 9 election, jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi was considering dropping out of the race against Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate backed by Israel and Washington as a potential peacemaker.

Before dawn yesterday, Hamas gunmen detonated a bomb hidden in a chicken coop that troops were searching and opened fire, killing one soldier and wounding four.

Israeli forces killed two of the attackers and two Islamic Jihad militants.

The ambush, which shattered a relative lull in fighting since Mr Arafat’s death last month, came as Mr Abbas faced stiff resistance to a proposed ceasefire to help instil calm for the Palestinians’ first presidential ballot in eight years. “Calm cannot be achieved at the expense of Palestinian blood,” Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said.

Polls show Mr Abbas tied with Mr Barghouthi, serving five life terms in an Israeli jail after being convicted of ordering attacks that killed Israelis. He denies the charges. A victory for Mr Barghouthi would pose problems for reviving peace talks with Israel. But Israeli-Arab lawmaker Talab El-Sana said Mr Barghouthi told him during a jailhouse visit he might drop out to avoid splitting his mainstream Fatah faction, which named Mr Abbas as its official candidate.

Renewed fighting could also spell trouble for Ariel Sharon’s efforts to forge a “unity” government to carry out his plan for evacuating Jewish settlements. The booby-trap explosion inflicted the Israeli army’s first combat fatality since Mr Arafat’s death in November.