Palestinians Blame Israel for Fatal Ambush of Militant

A Palestinian militant was shot to death Saturday in front of his 2-year-old niece, who was injured, and Palestinians blamed Israel for the killing.

In another West Bank community, Jericho, Israeli soldiers rocketed a Palestinian police base, injuring 17 people.

An explosion this morning in a rubbish bin rocked the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, slightly wounding one person, police said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat called for a Middle East summit to discuss the findings of a U.S.-led commission looking into the causes of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

But Israeli Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh rejected Arafat’s proposal on Israel’s Channel One television.

Ahmed Khalil Assad, 37, a local leader of the Islamic Jihad group, was shot as he left his home in Artas, near the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israeli soldiers opened fire on him from a nearby hill, a relative said.

Assad’s 2-year-old niece Amal was slightly injured in the leg, said Dr. Peter Qumri at Beit Jala hospital.

Assad coordinated and participated in attacks on Israelis during the last seven months of violence, and spent eight years in Israeli jails, the Islamic Jihad said in a leaflet published Saturday.

The Israeli army said it knew nothing about the shooting of Assad, but Palestinians said it was part of the Israeli policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders in the current conflict.

In Jericho, as many as 17 Palestinians were injured when Israeli troops fired wire-guided missiles at a base of the General Intelligence Service, one of the Palestinian security agencies.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Channel Two television that the head of the intelligence service in the West Bank, Tawfiq Tirawi, has been responsible for repeated attacks against Israelis.