Palestinian gunmen opened fire
Tuesday on an Israeli car in the West
Bank, killing four passengers on
the threshold of a new round of peace talks in the Middle East
to Washington. The Islamist movement Hamas claimed responsibility. The
assailants attacked the car as it traveled near Hebron - a city which has been volatile flashpoint of violence in
the past. Some 500 ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves
in the center of more than 100,000 Palestinians. One victim was pregnant, said
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police. National Rescue Service of Israel, the
victims were two men and two women, and the Israeli media, that everyone in the
car were killed.
Video broadcast live on Israeli TV
late on Tuesday showed a white Subaru station wagon was at the street corner,
the windows and doors were shot full of bullet holes. The car was in support of
the army and police vehicles and dozens of soldiers. The army said the fire was
a passing car. The attackers fled and the Israeli forces set up checkpoints and
conduct research. Rally to celebrate the attack in Gaza has attracted about 3,000 people.
Arriving in Washington talks this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has condemned the attack. "Terror does not define the borders of Israel or the future of the settlements," he said, referring
to the key issue in negotiations. Barack Obama hopes to forge a peace agreement
within a year. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had been in Washington meeting with U.S. Secretary of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad office issued a statement charging the
attack was intended to undermine the efforts of his government to build an
international consensus for "the Palestinian position and ends (Israeli)
occupation."
Hamas rival hard-backed
Palestinian president, Abbas's forces expelled from Gaza in 2007 and took control of the region. Abbas has sought to limit reach
the Islamic militants'39; West Bank arrests of activists, and even overthrow the preacher of
the mosque.
Hamas, responsible for dozens of
suicide bombings in Israel, is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and the European Union. When asked about the shooting,
Interior Ministry spokesman PJ Crowley said that the U.S. knows "who is doing everything possible to stop or
derail the process." Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has promised to
attack, he said, firm intention to sabotage the negotiations.
"Israel will not allow terrorists to raise his head and the exact
price of the murderers and those who send them," he said in a statement.
UN envoy Robert summaries issued a statement condemning the attack and urged
all parties "does not allow the enemies of peace negotiations may affect
the launch."
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