GAZA (Reuters) - Israel tried to assassinate a leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday, wounding Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a helicopter attack that could spur new violence and shatter a U.S.-backed peace plan.
Rantissi, 56, one of Hamas's best-known public faces, has taken center stage over the past week in rejecting calls by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to cease attacks on Israelis under the terms of the "road map" peace proposal.
"Israel should expect that this crime...will not pass without a severe punishment," Mahmoud al-Zahar, another top Hamas official, told al-Jazeera television.
Israeli security sources confirmed that Israel had tried to assassinate Rantissi. "Israel will continue to fight terror. The policy hasn't changed, because the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) isn't doing it," one senior source said.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday in Gaza in a rare joint attack by Hamas and two other Palestinian groups. All three gunmen were also killed.
There was no official Israeli comment on the missile attack in Gaza City on Rantissi's car, which witnesses said killed two people and wounded about 20, including the Hamas leader and his teenage son.
They said two helicopters fired seven missiles at the vehicle, setting it ablaze.
Doctors and Hamas sources described Rantissi's condition as "good." He was wounded in the leg.
Israel has called on Abbas to carry out Palestinian obligations under the road map to disarm and dismantle militant groups spearheading attacks against it in the 32-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood.
But Abbas, who shook hands on the peace plan at a landmark summit in Jordan last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and President Bush (news - web sites), has sought a dialogue with Hamas, hoping to seal a truce and avoid civil war among the Palestinians.
Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel broke off cease-fire talks after the summit, accusing Abbas of making too many concessions to Sharon.
SETTLER OUTPOSTS REMOVED
The assassination attempt was launched a day after Israel took initial steps on the ground to put the road map into motion by tearing down 10 Jewish settler outposts in the West Bank.
The removal of the clusters of caravans on lonely hilltops, set Sharon on a path to confrontation with settlers he had long championed. But he drew Palestinian derision.
"This is a theatrical and insignificant step," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).
Speaking again after the attack on Rantissi, he said: "This shows Israel's determination to abort the road map."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) welcomed the Israeli move, which followed a pledge Sharon made at the June 4 Aqaba summit in Jordan.
"I'm pleased that Israel is now discharging the commitment it made to the international community at the Aqaba summit," Powell said in Chile.
The road map, the most far-reaching Middle East peace plan in more than two years, calls for an end to violence and reciprocal confidence-building steps leading to creation of Palestinian state by 2005.
They include the removal of settler outposts set up since March 2001, the month Sharon took office, and a freeze on construction inside established settlements.
Israel's Peace Now, a non-governmental movement which monitors settlements, says that there are about 60 outposts, none authorized by the government.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said further steps by Israel would depend on Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan reining in militants.
Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war and the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.
Rantissi, 56, one of Hamas's best-known public faces, has taken center stage over the past week in rejecting calls by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to cease attacks on Israelis under the terms of the "road map" peace proposal.
"Israel should expect that this crime...will not pass without a severe punishment," Mahmoud al-Zahar, another top Hamas official, told al-Jazeera television.
Israeli security sources confirmed that Israel had tried to assassinate Rantissi. "Israel will continue to fight terror. The policy hasn't changed, because the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) isn't doing it," one senior source said.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday in Gaza in a rare joint attack by Hamas and two other Palestinian groups. All three gunmen were also killed.
There was no official Israeli comment on the missile attack in Gaza City on Rantissi's car, which witnesses said killed two people and wounded about 20, including the Hamas leader and his teenage son.
They said two helicopters fired seven missiles at the vehicle, setting it ablaze.
Doctors and Hamas sources described Rantissi's condition as "good." He was wounded in the leg.
Israel has called on Abbas to carry out Palestinian obligations under the road map to disarm and dismantle militant groups spearheading attacks against it in the 32-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood.
But Abbas, who shook hands on the peace plan at a landmark summit in Jordan last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and President Bush (news - web sites), has sought a dialogue with Hamas, hoping to seal a truce and avoid civil war among the Palestinians.
Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel broke off cease-fire talks after the summit, accusing Abbas of making too many concessions to Sharon.
SETTLER OUTPOSTS REMOVED
The assassination attempt was launched a day after Israel took initial steps on the ground to put the road map into motion by tearing down 10 Jewish settler outposts in the West Bank.
The removal of the clusters of caravans on lonely hilltops, set Sharon on a path to confrontation with settlers he had long championed. But he drew Palestinian derision.
"This is a theatrical and insignificant step," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).
Speaking again after the attack on Rantissi, he said: "This shows Israel's determination to abort the road map."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) welcomed the Israeli move, which followed a pledge Sharon made at the June 4 Aqaba summit in Jordan.
"I'm pleased that Israel is now discharging the commitment it made to the international community at the Aqaba summit," Powell said in Chile.
The road map, the most far-reaching Middle East peace plan in more than two years, calls for an end to violence and reciprocal confidence-building steps leading to creation of Palestinian state by 2005.
They include the removal of settler outposts set up since March 2001, the month Sharon took office, and a freeze on construction inside established settlements.
Israel's Peace Now, a non-governmental movement which monitors settlements, says that there are about 60 outposts, none authorized by the government.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said further steps by Israel would depend on Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan reining in militants.
Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war and the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.
