Violence erupts after Palestinian activist gunned down

Dozens of Palestinians have been wounded in the latest violence in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, hours after an Israeli helicopter gunship rocket killed a Palestinian militant.

Palestinian gunmen last night opened fire on the Jewish neighbourhood of Gilo in a disputed part of Jerusalem claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians.

Heavy exchanges of fire continued into the night in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, where 60 Palestinians were wounded, according to Palestinian officials, including four Palestinian medics from the Red Crescent emergency service.

The Israeli military said Palestinians fired anti-tank weapons at Israeli positions near Khan Yunis. Brig Gen Yair Naveh, the Israeli commander in the area, said the Palestinians had taken the fighting to a new level.

He warned that if the Palestinians did not stop their attacks, ‘‘we will show that we can escalate as well’’.

Israel yesterday sent attack helicopters to blast a car carrying Massoud Ayyad, 54, an officer in Force 17, an elite Palestinian security unit. It marked a return to a controversial policy of assassinating Palestinian militants Israel claims were involved in attacks against Israelis.

The Israelis said Ayyad ordered two mortar shell attacks on the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, south of Gaza City. One of the mortar rounds hit a house, but no one was injured.

An officer said Ayyad spent seven months last year in Lebanon in training with Hezbollah guerrillas, who fought a long war against Israeli forces in south Lebanon before Israel withdrew last May. The officer said Ayyad was a well-known gun and drug smuggler.

Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein rejected the Israeli allegations and charged Israel with terrorism. ‘‘Israel is a state above the law,’’ he said.

But outgoing prime minister Ehud Barak, trounced in last week’s election by Sharon, praised the Israeli military for its operation and indicated that assassinations would continue.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher warned that yesterday’s violence marked a ‘‘serious deterioration of the security situation’’ because of the use of helicopter gunships by the Israelis and Palestinian attacks against settlements and motorists. He warned that the exchanges could become ‘‘impossible to control’’.

Israel closed Gaza Airport, citing security reasons, a day after Palestinians began flying to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage. During the week, 38 flights were to take 8,000 pilgrims to Mecca.

Also Tuesday, a 13-year-old Gaza boy, Bilal Awad, died of a gunshot wound. Palestinians said Israeli soldiers fired at him as he was walking with friends. The Israeli military denied that soldiers killed the boy.

The deaths brought to 391 the number of people killed in nearly five months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, including more than 320 Palestinians and nearly 50 Israeli Jews.

A commission appointed by then-US president Bill Clinton to investigate the causes of the violence announced that it would put off a scheduled visit to the area until after Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon took office.

Israeli politicians continued their work on setting up a unity government headed by Sharon, elected in a landslide last week. Sharon has demanded an end to Palestinian violence before peace negotiations can resume.

Sharon campaigned against Barak’s far-reaching compromise proposals to the Palestinians and has hinted at tough action to stop Palestinian violence.

Sharon must piece together a coalition government before he can take office. Progress was reported in intensive talks between Sharon’s Likud party and Barak’s Laboor, after Labour agreed to scrap its push for a peace treaty with the Palestinians and go along with Sharon’s goal of another interim accord instead.