"Israel", Hamas trade threats - settler killed in a rocket retaliation strike

Source: AFP, 28-5-2007
"Israel" and Hamas traded threats on Sunday as an "Israeli" settler died in a second deadly rocket strike from Gaza within a week and the Jewish (Zionist) state pursued its relentless pounding of militant targets.
46 Palestinians have been killed by "Israeli" raids in the coastal strip in the past 12 days, seven of them under the age of 16, said Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. More than 170 have been wounded, and on Sunday "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a weekly cabinet meeting: "No one involved in (so-called) `terror` has immunity."
The warnings came as rival Palestinian factions began meeting Egyptian mediators in Cairo to try to cement a truce that halted internecine bloodshed and to discuss the possibility of restoring a ceasefire with "Israel".
Olmert told his ministers that he would not allow the vagaries of Palestinian domestic politics to determine his government`s policy.
"We need to prepare for a long confrontation, which does not depend on agreements" between rival Palestinian factions, he said.
The armed wing of Hamas, the senior partner in the Palestinian unity government, in turn warned that the Jewish state would pay "a heavy price" if it continued its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
"The campaign of killing and assassinations will not push us to surrender, it will make us stronger," said Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas`s armed wing. "The occupation is... powerless to stop our rockets."
"Israel" has pounded Hamas targets in Gaza with 60 air strikes over the past 12 days in response to an increase in rocket fire from the territory.
The latest targeted a position in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, a military spokesman said. Palestinian sources had no immediate word on any casualties.
Olmert spoke as an "Israeli" man died from wounds sustained when a rocket fired by Hamas`s armed wing smashed into a car he was driving in the southern town of Sderot.
It was the second deadly rocket strike in the town in less than a week despite the resumption of "Israeli" air strikes on Hamas in Gaza.
Gaza militants have fired more than 230 rockets into the Zionist state since May 15, when the launches increased amid fierce factional clashes in the territory. The barrage has killed two settlers, wounded 20 and sent hundreds fleeing.
The "Israeli" army carried out two fresh raids against Hamas targets in Gaza overnight, with no casualties reported, a day after air strikes killed five Hamas militants.
The army has also detained two Hamas ministers and 32 other senior Hamas officials.
The United States voiced its concern to "Israel" over the arrests, while France condemned the arrests, saying "they could jeopardise the future of the national unity government and the possibility of renewed negotiations between the parties."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas last week called for a halt to what he called the "futile" rocket strikes and for a comprehensive truce with "Israel" covering both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, after a six-month Gaza ceasefire collapsed with increased rocket strikes and "Israeli" air raids.
"We will not give `Israel` a truce on a golden platter," said the statement from Hamas` armed wing. "They want to get a truce for nothing, but this will not happen."
Egypt, which has been seeking to broker a new agreement between the Palestinian factions, began holding separate meetings with the rival sides in Cairo.
Egyptian mediator General Borhan Hamad met a delegation from the secular Fatah faction of Abbas ahead of talks with Hamas and other factions.
Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmed of Fatah said Abbas would soon travel to Cairo himself to chair a special meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to consider admitting Hamas, which was only formed shortly after the launch of the first intifada in 1987, and has never joined the grouping.
"Abbas will head a meeting of the PLO executive committee, which will be held soon in Cairo... in order to include all Palestinian groups, including Hamas," Ahmed said.
At least 54 people were killed in the fighting between loyalists of Hamas and Fatah before a truce came into force on May 19.