Hezbollah Attack Kills One Israeli

Hezbollah militants attacked an Israeli bulldozer at the Israeli-Lebanese border Monday, killing one soldier and wounding two, Israel’s military said.

In a broadcast by its Al Manar television station, the Islamic militant group said the bulldozer had crossed the border into Lebanon. Israeli Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz denied that. He said the bulldozer was clearing land on the Israeli side when it was hit by a missile.

Israel also blamed the attack on Syria, which is widely believed to support Hezbollah. Syria dominates Lebanon and has about 20,000 troops in the country.

The attack came the same day Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee that peace with Syria would require a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

One committee member said it was clear from the context that Sharon was not ready to return the Golan in exchange for a peace deal.

Meanwhile, political sources said Israel planned cosmetic changes to the route of its contentious barrier in the West Bank.

“There will definitely be changes, but they will be cosmetic changes, tactical changes,” one source said.

Israel says completed sections of the barrier of razor wire and concrete, rising steadily inside the West Bank, have helped stop at least two dozen suicide attacks.

But Palestinians decry the barrier as an “apartheid wall” meant to deprive them of a viable state and keep for Israel land the Palestinians want for such a state.

Palestinians dismiss any talk of changing the route and insist Israel must not build beyond the Green Line marking its pre-1967 boundary with the West Bank.

“No peace with this wall,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Korei told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.