Deadly Shootout Foils Major Attack by Palestinian Terrorists, Israel Says

In a daylong drama punctuated by shootouts and bomb blasts, Israeli commandos lay siege Thursday to a cell of suspected Palestinian extremists, killing as many as four and foiling what officials said would have been a major terrorist attack.

One Palestinian was captured and an Israeli police officer lost a foot in the siege in the Israeli Arab town of Taibeh, northeast of Tel Aviv.

The alleged terrorist attack would have been the latest bombing or attempted bombing to target Israelis in recent weeks amid what Palestinians warn is mounting anger and volatility over a stalled peace process, Israeli officials said.

Thursday’s violence came as crucial final-stage negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have collapsed, with mutual blame replacing the goodwill of a few months ago.

It also followed by one day a vote in Israel’s parliament on the Syrian peace track that exposed the political frailty of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak as he tries to pursue peace with both the Palestinians and Syria. An escalation in violence only erodes his ability to maneuver.

Israeli security officials said the suspects killed in Taibeh were from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip and were operatives of the militant Islamic Hamas organization, which opposes peace with Israel.

“They planned to attack one of our civilian centers inside Israel--and to inflict very heavy casualties,” Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told reporters.

Israeli television reported that the gang planned four simultaneous bombings in crowded areas of major Israeli cities.

Hamstrung by increased cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian authorities, Hamas has not been capable of such a spectacular operation in more than a year. But the group’s leaders claim that they are rebuilding quickly, while support for violence among ordinary Palestinians has grown, according to opinion polls.

The drama in Taibeh unfolded over more than 14 hours, much of it frozen in a strange standoff. Israeli security forces sealed the town, posted scores of reinforcements on rooftops, closed schools and ordered residents to stay indoors.

Israeli anti-terrorism forces, who had been tipped overnight that men with explosives had rented an apartment in Taibeh, surrounded the two-story building before dawn. Shouting through megaphones, they ordered the men to surrender. One suspect emerged and was arrested. Two who followed later opened fire and died when an explosives-laden suitcase that one of them was carrying was detonated in the fusillade of bullets, police said.

Wary of more explosives, the Israeli forces sent in a “sniffer” dog trained to detect bombs. Another blast killed the dog almost immediately. Bomb-disposal robots and more dogs were sent in throughout the day. Finally, as evening fell, an Israeli armored bulldozer began demolishing the house, and another bomb went off. A fourth suspect had been spotted but apparently was buried in the rubble. Israel’s national police commander, Yehuda Vilk, said a fifth man may have been killed or fled.

As the operation wound down, some of Taibeh’s Arab residents emerged from their homes and threw rocks at the security forces.

Israel praised Palestinian efforts to crack down on terrorism, with Sneh saying security cooperation between the two sides is “better than ever.” But the specter of a renewed wave of deadly bombings only reinforces Israeli skeptics who maintain that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has failed to control radical elements.

While Israeli and Palestinian leaderships condemned the alleged Hamas plot, both sides warned of the likelihood of more violence.

Taibeh is inside Israel but just west of the West Bank. It is part of a region sprinkled with Arab villages and towns, and is not far from the handful of Israeli cities targeted in recent bombings, such as Netanya and Hadera. Dozens of Israelis were injured in those incidents but none killed.

Israeli Arabs braced for recrimination, saying they feared that Thursday’s incident will be used once again by the Israeli right to question their loyalty. Bombings last September in northern Israel, less than 24 hours after Barak’s first peace agreement with the Palestinians, led to speculation that Hamas was making inroads in the Israeli Arab community.

Israeli television reported Thursday night that investigators suspect that the Palestinians who reached Taibeh may have taken advantage of a recently opened “safe-passage” route meant to help Palestinians travel between Gaza and the West Bank.