Arab Gunman Kills Reservist Inside Israel Before Being Slain

A Palestinian gunman, trying to hijack a commuter bus at a busy intersection south of Tel Aviv, fatally wounded an Israeli army reservist Sunday before other soldiers shot him to death.

The radical Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip said one of its members carried out the attack, the first major terrorist incident inside Israel since the signing of an agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization on Palestinian autonomy. Islamic Jihad bitterly opposes the pact.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, already hard-pressed to assure Israelis of their continued security amid a series of clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, warned that “extremist groups will do their utmost to disrupt” the pact.

Yet the boldness of the attack in the heart of Israel was a shock, and for many Israelis it dramatized the risks involved in the autonomy agreement, which would allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to continue to work in Israel.

At nightfall, several hundred right-wing demonstrators shouting “Death to the Arabs!” gathered at the bus stop where the attack took place to protest the agreement and to demand the replacement of the Rabin government.

Rabin, while not backing away from the agreement, has been saying for more than two weeks that the Dec. 13 deadline for a program implementing the accord is not realistic, “not sacred,” and might slip.