Killings Boost Tension Surrounding Palestinian Vote

The fatal shooting of two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank has heightened fears among Israeli and Palestinian officials that Jewish or Palestinian extremists will use violence to try to disrupt Saturday’s scheduled Palestinian elections.

“We know that there are Hamas and Islamic Jihad squads still attempting to hit people and destroy the peace process,” Prime Minister Shimon Peres told reporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday. “We’ll fight them with all our force, and we expect the Palestinian Authority to act firmly too. . . . We won’t let these groups decide whether the elections will take place or not.”

Both Israeli and Palestinian security forces are on high alert as election day approaches.

Senior Israeli and Palestinian officers met Tuesday in the West Bank to coordinate their security arrangements. Israel’s recent redeployment has created a complicated division of authority between the two security forces.

Jerusalem Police Chief Arieh Amit said an additional 2,000 Israeli police officers will be deployed in Jerusalem on Saturday, anticipating attempts by Jewish settlers and other right-wing elements to disrupt Palestinian voting there.

Israeli security sources said Wednesday that they also expect that tension will be high in Hebron, the only major West Bank area still under Israeli control.

More than 1,000 soldiers are protecting about 400 Jewish settlers who live in the heart of Hebron, the only Palestinian town where Israeli soldiers will still be posted on election day.

About 5,000 Palestinians from East Jerusalem are scheduled to vote in five post offices that will also be open for business to the public.

Some settler groups, arguing that the participation of East Jerusalem Palestinians in the elections harms Israel’s sovereignty in the city, have threatened to flood the post offices with customers in an effort to discourage Palestinians from voting.

Any attempt by settlers to interfere with voting in Jerusalem could lead to violence, warned Faisal Husseini, who deals with Jerusalem issues as a minister without portfolio in the Palestinian Authority.

“We know what the Israeli right wing might do,” Husseini told the Arabic-language newspaper Al Quds in an interview published Wednesday. “They do not have limits for their actions. . . . If they succeed to have access to the polling stations at the post offices, the eruption of violence is imminent.”

Israeli and Palestinian security forces have been cooperating closely since the Jan. 5 assassination in the Gaza Strip of Yehiya Ayash, the Arab bomb maker believed to have built devices used to carry out a string of suicide attacks on Israelis.

Security sources said Wednesday that the two sides have been sharing information in an effort to thwart expected revenge attacks by Hamas or Islamic Jihad, two militant Islamic organizations.

Tuesday’s shooting of the Israeli soldiers was the most serious attack since Ayash’s death, although there was at least one failed bombing attack on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

A previously unknown group, Moujahedeen al Islam, called Army Radio on Tuesday after the lethal attack on the two soldiers to claim responsibility. An anonymous caller said the attack was meant to avenge Ayash’s death.

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat blamed Israel for Ayash’s assassination. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the charge.

Maj. Oz Tivon, a 29-year-old army doctor, and Sgt. Yaniv Shimel, a 20-year-old army medic, were buried Wednesday in Jerusalem.

The two were driving through a rainstorm toward Jerusalem on Tuesday night when a car overtook them and sprayed their vehicle with automatic weapons fire, an army spokesman said. The assailants escaped.