2 Israeli Teachers Are Killed in Attack

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a minivan carrying Israeli teachers to school early today, killing at least two and wounding others, the Israeli army said.

The shooting attack, near Israel’s border with Jordan, came a day after Israeli helicopters fired missiles into the offices of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The surge in violence cast further doubt on the possibility of a meeting between the Palestinian Authority president and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. No one was injured in the Ramallah attack.

In the shooting on the school vehicle in the Jordan Valley, however, an army spokeswoman said at least two of the teachers were killed and others apparently injured when the vehicle veered out of control. Part of the Jordan Valley is on disputed West Bank land. The bus was apparently en route from a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem to a school in the Jordan Valley.

Palestinians said the Ramallah attack, in a residential area in the center of the city, targeted Mohammed Mansour, a Fatah leader who left the building before the three missiles hit.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian police said a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli gunfire in Rafah. The Israeli army said it was not aware of any shooting by troops in the area.

Earlier Saturday, a Palestinian was killed and another seriously injured in an explosion in the yard of a Gaza Strip building used by the Tanzim militia, an armed faction of Fatah. Palestinians blamed Israel, but the army said it knew nothing about the blast.

Palestinians said the missile attack cast doubt on Israel’s desire to bring together Arafat and Peres. Both sides had been trying to work out a meeting, and Peres said one would take place this week in the region. No time or date had been set.

However, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo said the Ramallah attack “will destroy the aims of this meeting before it’s even held.”

“It seems that [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon is very much interested in continuing the cycle of violence and war against the Palestinian people,” he added.

Israel said the strike was retaliation for West Bank shootings by gunmen associated with Fatah, including one Thursday that killed a soldier and seriously injured another. Israel says Fatah is behind many deadly attacks on Israelis.