Friday, Jun 13, 2003
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Relatives and friends mourn Yafa Mualem, killed in a Wednesday Palestinian suicide attack, during her funeral in Jerusalem on Thursday. — Reuters
The latest spike in violence — 35 Israelis and Palestinians killed in two days — suggested a new stage in the 32-month-old conflict, with Israel and Hamas threatening to fight each other to the finish. Hamas said it would unleash multiple attacks and urged foreigners to leave Israel for their own safety. The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said that despite a new U.S.-backed peace plan, he would hunt Palestinian militants ``to the bitter end.'' In a 24-hour period that began on Wednesday afternoon, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 16 people in a Jerusalem bus attack and Israel carried out three air strikes that killed 18 Palestinians, about half of them civilians. In the latest rocket attack on Thursday, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car belonging to Yasser Taha, a Hamas fugitive and member of the group's military wing. In all, seven people were killed, including Taha, his wife Fatima (25), and their 2-year-old daughter, Asnan, doctors said. A baby bottle and baby shoes were pulled from the burning car. The car was targeted in Gaza City's Sheik Radwan neighbourhood, near a cemetery, where earlier in the day the 11 dead from Wednesday's air strikes were buried. Witnesses said at least one missile hit as bystanders surrounded Taha's car. The intensity of Israel's strikes against Hamas in recent days suggested a new stage in the conflict. It comes at a time when expectations are fading that the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, will be able to rein in militants. Mr. Abbas has said he will not force a showdown, and will instead try to persuade Hamas and other armed groups to halt attacks on Israelis. In a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr. Sharon ridiculed Palestinian leaders as ``crybabies'' for saying they can't dismantle militias by force. Israel said it would not stand by until Mr. Abbas — described by Mr. Sharon Thursday as a ``chick that hasn't grown its feathers yet'' — is able to persuade the armed groups to halt attacks. — AP
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