Israel Kills 3 Jihad In Gaza

An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, obliterating the vehicle, killing three Islamic Jihad members and wounding 15 people, doctors said.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition after the attack in a densely populated area between Gaza City and the Jebaliya refugee camp. Three children were among those hurt, including a girl who was in critical condition, hospital doctors said.

The missiles hit with a thunderous explosion. Palestinian security officials strained to keep order as crowds gathered around the wreckage. One man held up a bit of charred flesh and screamed for revenge.

Israel said the car carried senior Islamic Jihad militants responsible for planning several attacks on Israelis.

There has been some expectation that Israel would step up its strikes against militants ahead of a possible withdrawal from much of the Gaza Strip, to prevent militants from making the claim that they drove out Israeli forces.

Two advisers to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were leaving for Washington late Saturday to discuss his unilateral withdrawal plan with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Sharon has said he would coordinate any pullback with the United States.

Islamic Jihad identified the three men killed in Saturday's strike as Mahmoud Judah, a field commander of the group's violent military wing, militant Ayman Dahdouh and his cousin Amin, who was a supporter of the group but not a militant. Two of the bodies were decapitated in the attack.

Israel has frequently sent helicopter gunships and warplanes to kill Palestinian militants in targeted missile strikes throughout more than three years of fighting. The last such strike was Feb. 7, when an Islamic Jihad leader and a 12-year-old boy were killed by missiles.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman said the group would continue to battle Israel. "God willing, Palestinians will win this battle of honor and will achieve victory and will liberate the Holy Land," said Khalid al-Batch.

In other developments Saturday, Palestinian gunmen in black ski masks burst into a Gaza office of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. and demanded work, a day after the mayor of the West Bank's largest city resigned to protest Yasser Arafat's failure to stop such anarchy.

The growing chaos comes as the Palestinian leader tries to silence dissatisfaction with his rule and rebellion from younger reform-minded activists in his own Fatah movement.

Leaders of Arafat's ruling Fatah met Saturday to plan for internal elections. Arafat promised disgruntled activists that a vote would be held within a year, and on Saturday a committee was formed to prepare for elections in Fatah, Cabinet Minister Jamal Shobaki said.

But few of the young activists believed Arafat, who has fought reforms and kept a tight hold on power, would keep his word. The veteran leader has surrounded himself with cronies and Fatah movement stalwarts he brought with him on his return from exile in 1994, excluding others from power positions.

In other developments, Israeli bulldozers leveled 120 Palestinian shops close to a crossing point between Gaza and Israel. The military said the shops sat over a tunnel used by two gunmen who secretly entered the heavily fortified Erez crossing and killed a soldier earlier this week.

A bit of twisted metal and concrete was all that was left of the shops and food carts in the flattened lot about the size of a soccer field. The strip housed clothing, furniture and second-hand shops as well as food stalls.

The mayor of the town of Beit Hanoun said Friday's destruction caused damages of about US$1 million.

At the final session of four days of Fatah meetings on Saturday, leaders also took up the role of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group made up of hundreds of gunmen who operate in small and relatively autonomous gangs, some with ties to Fatah, others funded by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Fatah leaders warned the group that if it wanted to maintain links to the movement it should end attacks on Israeli civilians, said Jibril Rajoub, one of Arafat's top security advisers.

At the same time, Fatah restated its position that until Israel withdraws from Palestinian areas and an independent Palestinian state is born, attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers within the West Bank and Gaza would be sanctioned.

"The struggle in the areas of the occupied territories is legal, and we emphasize this point," Rajoub said.

It appeared unlikely the gunmen would pay any heed to Fatah decisions. In recent months, Fatah leaders have tried with cash and persuasion to bring the gunmen in line, but to no avail.

Al Aqsa gunmen have carried out scores of attacks on Israelis in more than three years of fighting, including two recent Jerusalem bus bombings that killed 18 Israelis and a foreign worker.

The group has also terrorized residents in the city of Nablus, where the mayor resigned to protest the unchecked mayhem.

Nablus is the West Bank's largest city with about 180,000 residents.

Unemployment and poverty have become rampant in Nablus and other parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Adding to the disorder, Palestinian police forces have been crippled, leaving no real authority on the streets.

In the power vacuum, gangs wage deadly gunbattles, rival clans fight out deadly feuds and militants take the law into their own hands.

In a letter published in Palestinian newspapers Saturday, Nablus Mayor Ghassan Shakaa, a longtime Arafat ally, wrote that the Palestinian Authority has allowed the city to slip into disorder.

Palestinian officials have repeatedly blamed Israel, saying its military grip on Palestinian areas prevents police from keeping order.

In November, Palestinian gunmen shot and killed Shakaa's brother. The mayor, who had been locked in a power struggle with armed gangs, named suspects, but security forces have been unwilling to arrest them.

Shakaa said he would stay on as head of the city until May 1 because he is involved in several development projects he wants to finish, including the construction of a shopping mall.