Palestinian man kills Israeli boy with axe

An axe-wielding Palestinian went on the rampage in a West Bank settlement today killing a 13-year-old Israeli boy before fleeing.

Guards in Bat Ayin fired at the attacker and wounded him said Shaul Goldstein, a settler leader.

"The security team here managed to shoot and hit the terrorist, but he managed to escape," he said.

A shadowy militant group calling itself the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a boy of seven was also injured, in an email.

The group is named for a Hezbollah leader killed in Syria last year in what is believed to have been an assassination by Israeli intelligence. It has claimed a number of past attacks, but Israeli defence officials believe it is likely a name used by other groups to avoid Israeli reprisals.

The attacker apparently entered Bat Ayin, south of Jerusalem, unhindered. It is home to religious settlers who have refused to build a security fence around their community, as is the rule in most other settlements, saying fences are a sign of insecurity.

The attack posed an important test for Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has promised a firm hand against militants and expressed scepticism about prospects for peace.

A government spokesman called it a "senseless act of brutality against innocents".

"The new Israeli government will have a zero tolerance policy towards these sorts of attacks and will refuse to accept them as routine," he said. "The Palestinian leadership must both in word and in deed too have a zero tolerance policy to this sort of attack to demonstrate its commitment to peace and reconciliation."

Mr Netanyahu was elected to office on a campaign that criticised his predecessor's peace negotiations with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Since then Mr Netanyahu has said he will seek peace, but given few details about his vision for a final agreement. He has specifically refused to endorse the idea of an independent Palestinian state - a key demand of the Palestinians.

Yesterday Mr Netanyahu's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israeli concessions to the Palestinians would only bring more war. He also rejected the previous government's peace talks.

Israel's former chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said Mr Lieberman's scathing rejection of recent negotiations shows the new government is not a partner for peace with the Palestinians.

"What happened yesterday is that the Israeli government announced that Israel isn't relevant, isn't a partner," Mrs Livni, the former foreign minister, said.

The appointment of the ultranationalist Mr Lieberman has angered Palestinians and raised international concerns because of his hard-line positions on peace and an election campaign that was widely seen as racist.

His comments signalled a difficult road ahead for President Barack Obama's Mideast policy, especially its push for a Palestinian state.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said his remarks were an insult to the world powers pushing for peace.