Palestinians Step Up Violence; Israel Assassinates Terror Leader

The Palestinians appear determined to guarantee that Ariel Sharon does not enjoy a honeymoon.

Just as Israeli security officials predicted, Palestinian violence has surged since Sharon’s victory in prime ministerial elections last week. On Tuesday, gun battles raged between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen, and Israel assassinated a Palestinian security official in a pinpoint helicopter attack in the Gaza Strip.

Missiles destroyed the car in which Massoud Ayyad, 54, was traveling. A member of Yasser Arafat’s Force 17 bodyguard unit, Ayyad had been recruited by Hezbollah in Lebanon to carry out attacks against Israel from inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said.

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said Ayyad had been involved in arms and drug smuggling in Lebanon, where he was recruited by the Shi’ite group.

An Israel Defense Force spokesman said Ayyad headed a terrorist cell whose activities included recent mortar attacks on the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and plans to kidnap Israelis.

Israel recently arrested Ayyad’s son, Nasser, who allegedly was a member of his father’s cell.

“It is a clear message to anyone who is planning to attack Israelis that they will not be able to do so with impunity, and that the armed forces will find them and settle accounts with them,” outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement praising the assassination.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the killing, the first assassination of a Palestinian figure since Thabet Thabet, a dentist and Tanzim militia leader, was killed at the end of December.

The Palestinian Authority declared Ayyad a martyr, and Justice Minister Freij Abu Meddein accused Israel of war crimes.

Tuesday’s operation came amid a marked surge in Palestinian violence in recent days, which Israeli security officials say is a response to Sharon’s election.

The U.S. State Department urged the sides to avoid steps that would lead to a further deterioration of the situation.

In other violence Tuesday, Palestinians claimed a 13-year-old boy was shot in the chest and killed by Israeli fire near the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip. The IDF denied involvement in the incident, saying Israeli troops did not shoot in the area at the time.

An Israeli civilian was lightly wounded by Palestinian sniper fire in the Neveh Dekalim area of the Gaza Strip.

Toward evening, the shooting incidents grew into heavy exchanges of fire in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians said at least 80 people were wounded, including four Red Crescent workers, during heavy exchanges around Khan Yunis.

According to reports, a U.N. group investigating alleged Israeli human rights violations during the four-months of violence also got caught in the crossfire, but no one was hurt.

Israeli Army Radio reported that Palestinians fired anti-tank missiles at IDF positions in the Gaza Strip for a second straight day. There were no Israeli injuries.

There were additional shooting incidents in the West Bank, and Jerusalem’s southern neighborhood of Gilo again came under fire from an adjacent Palestinian town. There were no reports of injuries.

On Sunday, an Israeli driver on a main road linking Jerusalem to the Etzion Bloc of West Bank settlements was killed when he was shot in the head by gunmen in Beit Jalla, a Palestinian town next to Bethlehem. Israeli ambulance workers who came to the man’s aid also came under fire.

The Israeli army on Tuesday set up portable bomb shelters in the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, which Palestinians have bombarded daily during the recent unrest.

Israeli security officials are divided as to the degree of responsibility the Palestinian Authority bears for the surge in attacks in recent days, which may be intended to test Sharon’s declaration that he will not negotiate under fire.

Arafat may not have given direct orders, Israeli officials say, but he shows – – by doing nothing to urge restraint on his forces — that he condones the attacks.