Israel Kills Militant Accused in Disco Bombing

An Israeli army sniper killed a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas on Sunday, hours before troops and tanks pulled out of Palestinian neighborhoods of the West Bank town of Hebron and began to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians.

The killing of Abed Rahman Hamad marked a return to the policy of “targeted shootings” that Israel suspended late last month as part of an effort to implement a cease-fire with the Palestinians. This was the first such killing since Israel decided to resume the hunt for militants after Palestinian gunmen infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 2 and killed two people.

Sunday’s shooting dealt another blow to the Bush administration’s efforts to stop the fighting that has raged here for more than a year and claimed more than 800 lives, most of them Palestinian. The administration has been pressing both sides to return to peace talks, hoping that a resumption of negotiations would allow greater participation of Arab and Muslim nations in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

In the past, acts of violence by either side have derailed tentative efforts to renew security cooperation or resume a diplomatic dialogue. However, even after a sniper killed Hamad as the Palestinian stood on the roof of his home in the West Bank town of Kalkilya, two senior Palestinian negotiators went ahead with a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. And Sunday night, a U.S.-monitored meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security officers in Hebron went ahead.

Shortly before dawn Monday, Israeli troops and tanks pulled out of the two neighborhoods they occupied two weeks ago, but not before clashing with Jewish settlers who opposed the withdrawal. Israel Radio reported that police arrested more than 20 settlers.

“Neither side wants to take the responsibility for being obstructionist when the United States is building this alliance,” said Palestinian legislator Ziad abu Amr. Still, he said, “Hamas cannot just sit there and accept Israeli attacks on its men, so this could trigger the whole cycle of violence again.”

Indeed, Hamas vowed Sunday to avenge Hamad’s death.

“Israel will pay a very heavy price for this act,” Abdulaziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas official, told reporters in Gaza. “We will definitely respond very painfully. . . . Sharon, you will not be safe. Sharon, you and your people will be attacked anywhere and at any time.”

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office issued a statement saying Israel believed that Hamad had helped plan the suicide bombing attack on a Tel Aviv disco in June that killed 22 people, most of them young Israelis. Hamad was identified as a leader of Hamas in Kalkilya, and he had been jailed by Israel seven times and deported once. He was arrested by the Palestinian Authority after the disco attack but released. Israel alleged that he was planning to carry out an unspecified attack in the coming days.

The two sides continued their war of words Sunday, with Palestinians accusing Israel of seeking to sabotage the cease-fire and Israel charging that the Palestinian Authority is not cracking down on militants and is doing nothing to prevent attacks on Israelis.

Even as Israel decided to lift the closures of Jericho and Ramallah in the West Bank, dismantle some roadblocks and allow family visits between the West Bank and Gaza, political and military leaders dismissed the relative quiet that has prevailed in the past few days.

Instead of carrying out wholesale arrests of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, Israeli officials complain, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has merely reached agreement with the Islamic movements to suspend their operations temporarily.

Israel’s resumption of attacks on militants seemed calculated to push Arafat into the sort of direct confrontation with the Islamic organizations that he is trying to avoid. Just last week, after Palestinian police opened fire on anti-American demonstrators in Gaza, Palestinians feared they might be on the verge of civil war. Arafat has been trying to defuse tensions by appointing a commission of inquiry into the incident and negotiating with the militant factions.

The Israeli government’s own internal problems surfaced Sunday during the Cabinet’s debate on whether to pull troops out of the Hebron neighborhoods.

Israel said it moved into the neighborhoods overlooking Jewish enclaves in the heart of Hebron to stop shooting attacks on Jewish settlers. Sharon told the Cabinet that Israel had negotiated an agreement with the Palestinian Authority that it will prevent attacks if Israel withdraws. Sharon said that he, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Peres agreed that there should be a pullout.

But several Cabinet ministers said that Israel should rely only on itself to protect the settlers. And several small ultra-right parties said they might pull out of the government because of the withdrawal.

Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, the army chief of staff, earned rebukes from both Sharon and Ben-Eliezer for notifying journalists that he disagreed with the government’s decision to withdraw and believes it will endanger Israelis.

Ben-Eliezer threatened to fire Mofaz, who has frequently clashed with Sharon, Ben-Eliezer and Peres over the army’s tactics in dealing with the Palestinian revolt. Instead, the defense minister issued a formal reprimand to the chief of staff.