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Israeli soldier killed in Palestinian attack

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Hours after a top militant from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party was killed, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade on Monday launched an attack near a Jewish settlement, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding another, Israeli rescue officials said.

No other details on the attack near the Shavei Shomron settlement west of Nablus were immediately available, but earlier the Al Aqsa Brigade blamed Israel for killing Raed al-Karmi and vowed revenge for his death.

The Al Aqsa Brigade did not dispute the Israeli account, and said in a statement that it would "balance the terror" inflicted on Palestinians until Israel withdraws from its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Israel Defense Forces declined comment on the killing of al-Karmi, 30, but Marwan Barghouti, the head of the Fatah movement on the West Bank, also blamed Israel for the killing, saying the Israelis had abandoned an informal cease-fire with the Palestinians.

Barghouti and other Palestinian leaders met with Arafat Monday afternoon and pleaded with him to drop the demand he made December 16 for a halt in attacks on Israel.

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The leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah, did not wait for that meeting, announcing its members will no longer honor Arafat's call.

Israel, which has had a policy of killing suspected terrorists, had suspended the "targeted killings" after December 16 to give Arafat time to arrests terrorists on its most-wanted list. Al-Karmi was on that list.

In another development, officials in Jerusalem flattened at least five houses in an Arab neighborhood saying they were built without the proper permits.

A short while later, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said after a meeting of the security cabinet that Israel will stop the demolition of houses in Palestinian territories.

The developments come as the controversy continues over an arms shipment that Israel says was destined for the Palestinian Authority.

Arafat on Sunday denied Palestinian Authority leaders were involved in the shipment of 50 tons of arms that Israel intercepted in the Red Sea.

The United States -- which is trying to get the two sides to honor a meaningful cease-fire -- has said there is "credible evidence" the Palestinian Authority was involved and has asked Arafat to provide an explanation and to take action against those responsible.

On Sunday, Arafat told the Arab-language news channel Al-Jazeera that an official in charge of finance for Palestinian security forces, Fuad al-Shubaki, had been arrested in connection with the arms ship, the Karine-A. Two others are being sought, he said.

Arafat again denied that the Palestinian Authority is buying arms from Iran, the country Israel alleges provided the weapons.

Al-Karmi, a member of Fatah's military wing, survived an assassination attempt by Israeli forces last September when the car he was riding in was the target of missiles. Two people he was riding with were killed in that attack.

Bulldozers move into East Jerusalem's Isawiya
Bulldozers move into East Jerusalem's Isawiya  

There were conflicting reports Monday on how he was killed, but Palestinian sources said al-Karmi died when a blast went off as he passed by a cemetery in Tulkarem.

Al-Karmi had claimed responsibility for the deaths last year of two Tel Aviv restaurant owners who were killed in Tulkarem. Israeli authorities have also accused him of being involved in the deaths of eight other Israelis.

Israel has called the targeted killing of suspected terrorists self-defense. The Palestinians call them assassinations.

In the East Jerusalem's Isawiya neighborhood where the five newly constructed houses were destroyed, city officials said no one -- Arabs or Jews -- would be allowed to build without permits.

Palestinians have often complained they have no choice but to build without permits. They contend the Jerusalem city government rarely issues permits as a way of holding down the Arab population of Jerusalem.

The move followed the demolition of homes last week in the Rafah refugee camp. The United Nations says 58 houses were demolished and 511 people were left homeless.

The government position on the demolitions in the Rafah refugee camp is that the houses were empty and used by militants to shoot on army troops.

The destruction of the houses in southern Gaza was part of a series of Israeli retaliatory strikes against Palestinian targets after Hamas gunmen cut through a security fence at Kerem Shalom and killed four Israeli soldiers before being killed themselves.



 
 
 
 


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