Palestinian Militants

Re "7 Members of an Israeli Family Are Buried After Weekend Attacks," March 4: Nine people--three of them children, mothers with their babies--leaving a synagogue in Jerusalem were killed by a suicide bomber from the military wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah terrorist movement. How can anybody compare this massacre with the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) attacking terrorist camps, precisely in order to prevent this same cowardly murdering of innocent civilians from happening? Only people refusing to see the reality can continue to consider both acts as equal.

Unleashing a sophisticated new tactic, Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli army outpost near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip on Sunday by digging a long tunnel, packing it with high explosives and detonating them by remote control. The army said at least one soldier was reported killed and five wounded in the attack, which targeted an Israeli base guarding the Gush Katif settlements in southern Gaza.

Israeli forces pressed ahead Saturday with one of the biggest offensives in the Gaza Strip in four years of fighting, killing at least 12 Palestinians in dawn-to-dusk gun battles and airstrikes, officials from both sides said.

A powerful explosion ripped through a bus in the heart of Jerusalem at the height of rush hour this morning, and preliminary reports said at least eight people were killed and dozens injured. The explosion, just before 9 a.m., took place in a leafy, upscale neighborhood, less than a quarter-mile from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence. Authorities said the attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber.

Aides scrambled Monday to break a deadlock between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas over the makeup of a new Cabinet to oversee revived Middle East peace efforts. The interior minister's job -- with key responsibilities over security -- was still unfilled.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians who attacked an army post with grenades Saturday, as aides to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said he would go to an Arab summit in Beirut after three months of confinement by Israel. The militant Islamic group Hamas said the two men belonged to its armed wing. The army said the men attacked an outpost near the Jewish settlement of Dugit in the northern Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM -- Retaliating for a recent barrage of rockets fired by Gaza Strip fighters, Israel on Wednesday killed a senior Hamas military commander as he traveled by car through Gaza City, the militant group said. Ahmed Jabari, the 52-year-old head of the Hamas military wing, and three other people in the vehicle were killed in the airstrike. Shortly after, Israeli forces also struck other targets in the seaside enclave. The attack marked the launch of a new Israeli military assault, dubbed Operation Pillar of Defense, aimed at “defending the people of Israel who have been under rocket attack and crippling terrorist organizations' capabilities,” said Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitz.

Two Palestinians were killed Saturday in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said, the first deadly attack there since Israel declared a "no-go" zone last week to try to stop Palestinian rocket barrages. Relatives said the two were members of the same family, and one was in the Palestinian security forces. The Israeli military said it hit a cell of Palestinians preparing to fire a rocket.

Authorities today released a leading Palestinian activist whose arrest last weekend on suspicion of financing Palestinian militants brought international criticism down on the Israeli government. The pro-PLO activist, Faisal Husseini, has been mentioned as a likely negotiator in proposed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Also today, Atty. Gen.

Re "Brothers in arms, but not to the end," May 6 This article illustrates the complex relationship between the Israeli army, the Palestinian Authority security forces and Palestinian militants. Even though the Palestinian Authority has reduced killings, kidnappings and robberies in Nablus, the Israeli army still comes into the city every night to arrest and execute suspected terrorists. That is breeding a new set of militants. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is absolutely correct that as long as Israel regularly raids Nablus and other Palestinian cities, the Palestinian security forces will never achieve full capability.