Israel to target Islamic Jihad militants

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today he would not meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas unless the Palestinian Authority takes steps to stop militants from attacking Israelis.

Sharon spoke a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis in the town of Hadera.

Today the Israeli army launched an offensive against Islamic Jihad militants, carrying out airstrikes and arresting a local leader in what Sharon said would be a “broad and nonstop” response to the bombing.

At a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Sharon said, “If the Palestinian Authority does not take serious and tangible action against terrorism, there will be no diplomatic progress and that would be a pity. In such a situation, I will not meet with Abu Mazen,” as Abbas is known.

The new offensive will include airstrikes and artillery attacks in the Gaza Strip and more arrests in the northern West Bank, where Wednesday’s bomber came from, a military official said.

As a last resort, tanks or infantry could re-enter Gaza, which Israel evacuated last month. Israeli media reported that troops would also retake Palestinian towns and conduct house-to-house searches.

The threatened Israeli response to the bombing ratcheted up pressure on Abbas to confront militant groups.

Abbas has refused to crack down on armed groups such as Islamic Jihad, fearing civil war.

In an initial step, Israel carried out four airstrikes in Gaza this morning, targeting open fields used by militants to fire rockets, the army said.

This afternoon dozens Israeli troops entered the West Bank town of Jenin and arrested Abdel Khalim Izzadin, a local Islamic Jihad leader, after surrounding his house, witnesses said. The army said it arrested five other Palestinians before withdrawing from the town.

Israel, and the international community had hoped the Gaza withdrawal would jump-start peace efforts.

But the two sides have so far failed to capitalise on the opportunity, and negotiations on many key issues have deadlocked, snowballing into renewed violence.

Among the unresolved issues is the reopening of Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Israel closed shortly before the pullout due to security concerns.

The Palestinians say the border must be reopened and other travel restrictions must be lifted for Gaza’s economy to recover. Israel wants to be able to monitor security issues at the border.

Yesterday, Egypt brokered a deal under which a third party would monitor the crossing and Israel would have surveillance cameras in the area.

Islamic Jihad said yesterday’s bombing was to avenge the killing of one of its West Bank leaders earlier in the week.

The suicide bombing embarrassed Abbas, who hours before the attack demanded the militant groups stop violating a cease-fire declared last February.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Israel’s response to the suicide bombing only enflamed the tense situation. “We have condemned the Hadera attack. It doesn’t serve our people’s interests, but at the same time we condemn the Israeli aggression. This aggression doesn’t ensure calm,” Qureia told reporters.

The small Islamic Jihad group signed on to the truce last spring, but has repeatedly flouted the cease-fire by claiming it has the right to retaliate for any perceived Israeli violations. It has carried out four suicide bombings inside Israel since the truce.

The much larger Hamas militant group, which plans to run in January parliamentary elections, has largely scaled back its attacks since the truce declaration.

In contrast, Islamic Jihad is not participating in the vote and has much less to lose by continuing to attack Israel.

Israeli officials accused archenemies Iran and Syria of assisting the attackers, noting that Islamic Jihad is funded by Tehran and is headquartered in Damascus.

“This infrastructure is murderous and we will try to deal with it and silence it,” Amos Gilad, a senior Defence Ministry official, told Israel Radio.

The attack came hours after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised suicide bombings and said Israel should be “wiped off the map.” Israeli leaders called for Iran to be expelled from the United Nations for the president’s comments, which drew wide international condemnation.

Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz approved the latest offensive in a series of overnight telephone calls, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

“Islamic Jihad has declared war on every Israeli civilian and of course we’re 100 percent entitled to take the appropriate action to defend our civilians,” Regev said.

Capt. Yael Hartmann, an army spokeswoman, said security services were bracing for more attacks planned by Islamic Jihad. As part of its response, Israel sealed off its crossings with Gaza, and declared a complete closure on the West Bank.

The measure prevents labourers from entering Israel, keeps Palestinians from visiting relatives in Israeli prisons, and blocked Palestinian goods from exports.

The closure came just a day after similar restrictions, in effect for the month-long period of Jewish holidays, had been lifted.