Palestinian gunmen repudiate 'ceasefire'

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of Israelis soldiers in the West Bank yesterday, killing one and wounding three, just a day after militant leaders in the area told Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas they were ready to abide by a cease-fire.

The attack by militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas’ own Fatah movement, cast doubt on Abbas ability to prevent militant violence, a key Israeli demand to move forward with the US-backed ”road map” peace plan.

Also yesterday, Israeli forces shot and killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man walking near the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli army said the man was armed with an anti-tank missile and was suspected of planning to attack the settlement.

In the West Bank shooting, off-duty Israeli soldiers in civilian clothes and a civilian vehicle were driving on a road near a settlement when a car carrying Palestinian militants approached from the opposite direction and blocked the road, the military said. At least one militant in the car shot at the soldiers before driving away, the military said.

Abbas criicised the attack. “There is no justification for this operation, but there are a lot of reasons behind it,” he said at a news conference, his last official event before Sunday’s Palestinian presidential elections, which he is predicted to win easily.

On Thursday, Abbas met with militants in Nablus, including Al Aqsa officials, and said afterward that they were ready to support his cease-fire efforts.

Abbas has refused to call for a crack down on the militants, preferring instead to push for a negotiated cease-fire.

:: An Israeli television station broadcast a video of Israel’s top secret nuclear facility in the southern town of Dimona yesterday, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public.

A spokeswoman for Channel 10 television, which broadcast the video, would not say how it was obtained. However, Israel’s normally cautious military censor approved its release, suggesting it was produced in cooperation with Israel’s top secret nuclear agency.

In 1986 former technician Mordechai Vanunu gave information and pictures of the Dimona facility to London’s Sunday Times. On the basis of his revelations, experts concluded that Israel has the world’s sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, consisting of hundreds of warheads.

Vanunu was released last year after serving 18 years in prison for treason and espionage.