Israeli attack hits peace efforts

Israel's airstrike on a Gaza City neighborhood, which killed a Palestinian militant leader and 14 others, including nine children, threatens to damage nascent peacemaking attempts.

The United States and the European Union Tuesday condemned the attack, with President Bush calling it "heavy- handed" and the EU saying it would set back efforts to deescalate the conflict.

"This extra-judicial killing operation, which targeted a densely populated area, comes at a time when both Israelis and Palestinians were working very seriously to curb violence and restore cooperative security arrangements," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that killing wanted Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh, founder of Hamas's Izzedin al-Qasam military wing, was "one of our major successes, and it requires all of us to be on top alert," he said. "I repeat what I have said in the past – that it will not be possible to reach any compromise with terror, that terror must be fought."

The human toll from Israel's airstrike on the Daraj residential neighborhood was the most devastating Palestinians have suffered in a single incident since fighting erupted nearly two years ago.

At least 145 people were wounded in the attack after midnight Monday, said staffers at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Mr. Shehadeh, the target of Israel's raid, was held responsible by the army for planning scores of suicide bombings and other attacks inside the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Israel.

"This man was killing and threatening to kill Israelis, and it is our duty, like any democratic state, to protect our citizens," said Yuval Steinitz, a member of the Knesset from Sharon's Likud party. He said that Israeli's record in avoiding hitting civilians is "better than other forces such as the Americans and British in Afghanistan."

At the site where the single rocket had obliterated Shehadeh's three-story gray residential building and destroyed or damaged several other apartment buildings, Gazans blamed the international community.

A youth spray-painted a message in red referring to the F-16 planes used by Israel: "This is the American weapon."

Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas leader who spent seven years in prison with Mr. Shehadeh said: "This might be the worst blow we have suffered, but Hamas considers this the price of freedom. The result will be more hatred against Israel; the struggle will become larger, and Israel will not be able to live in peace while planting this hatred among the Palestinians."

Speaking from Ramallah, Hafez Barghouthi, editor of the Palestinian Authority al-Hayat al-Jadida daily newspaper, said: "I think the purpose of this operation was to stop the contacts between Palestinians and some Israeli ministers. Sharon wants there to be a Palestinian response, he wants more violence because he has no political solution."

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