Four Palestinians and settler killed

Yuri Cortez, Morag Settlement

The settler and two members of the hardline Islamic Jihad organisation were killed in the attack on the isolated settlement of Morag in southern Gaza, one of 21 due to be dismantled later this year.

The settler was killed when a military jeep ran over an explosive device.

Two Hamas militants were killed in a shootout near Ramallah in the central West Bank.

The violence was the worst incident since moderate former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, who has repeatedly called for an end to the armed struggle, was elected president of the Palestinian Authority by a landslide on Sunday.

Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack in a phonecall to AFP, said two of its members who had taken part in the operation were killed.

Mr Abbas has been trying to persuade Hamas and Jihad to end their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.

Israel’s head of military intelligence, General Aharon Zeevi, said yesterday that Mr Abbas would be unable to fulfil demands to disarm the militants.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s moderate new government survived its first test yesterday, winning a crucial parliamentary vote that had threatened to derail the planned Gaza withdrawal.

Mr Sharon’s plan, which includes the evacuation of four West Bank settlements, would uproot 8,800 settlers. Settler leaders, along with many members of the Likud oppose the plan.

Mr Sharon has said Israel’s continued presence in Gaza, which was captured in 1967, is untenable. About 8,200 settlers live amid 1.3 million Palestinians.