Israel Braces for Retaliation by Hamas

Israel should have been breathing a sigh of relief at the death of its No. 1 fugitive, top Hamas bomb maker Mohiedin Sharif. Instead, Israeli security forces were battening down the hatches Thursday in the face of the militant Islamic group’s vows of revenge.

As 10,000 angry Palestinians turned out in the West Bank town of Al Birah to bury Sharif’s scorched body--and, seemingly, the peace process--Israeli officials worked overtime trying to convince the Palestinian leadership that their security forces had nothing to do with the death.

Israeli troops clashed with stone-throwing Palestinian youths at a Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Al Birah, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition to break up the crowd, while police set up highway roadblocks in Israel and sent reinforcements to markets, shopping malls and bus stops.

Speculation continued about who was responsible for the assassination, or whether it even was an assassination. But amid the funeral chants to “hit Tel Aviv” and banners declaring “Glory to the Martyrs,” the answer seemed irrelevant.

“What’s important is how the Hamas leadership and the Palestinians in the street perceive the matter,” former Shin Bet internal security service chief Carmi Gillon wrote in the daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “They see Israel as solely responsible for comfortable reasons: Israel is the declared enemy.”

In a leaflet at Sharif’s funeral, Hamas threatened retribution even bloodier than the 1996 suicide bombings in revenge for the killing of Sharif’s predecessor, Yehiya Ayash, with a cellular telephone bomb planted by Israeli agents. “You [Israelis] paid with 60 coffins when you assassinated Ayash,” the leaflet said. “Prepare for worse today. The war is coming.”

Noting that Hamas usually follows through on its threats, Israeli officials said their high alert would remain through the Passover holiday, beginning next week, and for Israel’s 50th anniversary celebrations at the end of the month.

Sharif’s body was found next to an exploded Fiat Uno in an industrial area of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday but was not formally identified until Wednesday. Israeli explosives experts who viewed the site insist that it was a bomb factory and that Sharif died in a working accident. But a Palestinian pathologist has said that Sharif died of bullet wounds to the chest several hours before the explosion.

U.S. officials say they have not received enough information to make a determination and never saw the body before it was buried.

The Palestinian Authority has not issued an official declaration on the cause of death, saying the investigation is still open.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has been careful not to place blame, although the Palestinian Legislative Council on Thursday accused Israel. “We condemn this criminal act and urge the people and governments of the world to condemn it and put pressure on Israel to stop these acts,” the council said in a statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai met with Palestinian peace negotiator Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to discuss the death and ensuing tensions. He publicly repeated Israel’s emphatic denial.

The Hamas military wing said it holds the Palestinian Authority indirectly responsible for Sharif’s death, which occurred in an area under Palestinian rule.

Palestinian security officials reportedly arrested 20 Hamas activists suspected of having worked with Sharif in Ramallah and called Hamas political leaders to a meeting in Gaza City. Tayeb Abdel Rahim, who is Arafat’s right-hand man, urged the Hamas leaders to quiet their militants and try to prevent a revenge attack.

Many of the bearded young men and veiled women at the funeral clearly were supporters of Hamas, which opposes the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and forms Arafat’s main political opposition.

But others said they turned out to protest the lack of progress in peace negotiations. “The funeral and the large number of people who attended reflect the feeling of frustration and anger toward the peace process,” said Khaled Helo, 37, a doctor.

Times special correspondents Maher Abukhater in Al Birah and Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.