Funeral March for Militants Draws 3,000 Palestinians

Gunmen killed one Israeli and wounded another in the West Bank on Friday, and about 3,000 Palestinians marched in a funeral procession for two militants whose car was attacked by Israeli helicopters.

The gunmen, believed to be Palestinians, shot the Israelis at close range on the road near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, north of Ramallah, an army spokesman said. The army said the attackers escaped.

The shooting came as Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat met in Spain. It was their first meeting since Sept. 26, when they called for a cease-fire to stop a year of conflict. The truce never took hold.

The two men, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Spain’s prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, held a “serious and intense” discussion on the resort island of Majorca, said an Egyptian delegate.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, thousands of people marched in a funeral procession Friday for two activists from the Islamic militant group Hamas killed Thursday when Israeli helicopters fired missiles at their car. Israel said the two were planning a suicide bombing in Israel.

Standing on a car, Fayek Abu Eisha, the young son of one of the dead Hamas activists, shouted into a microphone, “I will avenge the blood of my father!”

Meanwhile, Israel continued to hold parts of four West Bank towns taken after Palestinian militants assassinated Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi on Oct. 17: Ramallah, Tulkarm, Jenin and Kalkilya.

Israeli officials wouldn’t confirm a report in Friday’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wanted to begin pulling out at the start of next week, provided the Palestinian areas remained calm.

In other developments:

* Peres said in an interview published in the Maariv newspaper that Israel should evacuate some Jewish settlements and conduct peace talks with the Palestinians even as violence rages.

Peres was asked whether he would evacuate some settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are waging a 13-month-old uprising against occupation.

“Yes, and I would not be doing the Palestinians a favor. There are several settlements which are drawing fire and have no future,” he replied. Peres did not specify which settlements he would empty.

* Israel said three soldiers captured by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in a cross-border raid in October 2000 have been declared dead.

The army’s chaplain, Brig. Gen. Yisrael Weiss, said the decision was made after the military received “high-quality” information that proved the soldiers were dead.