Three Israelis Killed On West Bank
Three people were killed in a Palestinian shooting attack south of the West Bank city of Hebron, witnesses and rescue services said Thursday.
In a statement, the rescue services said that Palestinians opened fire on a vehicle at the Beit Haggai intersection, near a settlement in the Hebron hills, and three people were killed.
The attack came just five days before Israel's elections, and as polls showed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has increased his lead, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.
In the past, Palestinian attacks on the eve of Israeli elections have helped hard-line parties like Sharon's Likud, galvanizing Israeli fears of terror attacks and desires fir reprisals.
Three polls released Thursday show the dovish Labor party that brought the peace accords with Yasser Arafat is in for a crushing defeat. The polls indicate that Labor could drop to just 18 seats in the 120-member parliament, while Sharon's right wing Likud party could win up to 34 seats. Analysts attribute Labor's plunge to the policy of its leader Amram Mitzna, who has said he will negotiate with Arafat, even if terrorism continues.
About 450 Israeli settlers live in three enclaves in the middle of Hebron, making it a flashpoint for violence. Sharon has said Israel cannot give up the hotly disputed holy site in Hebron — the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are buried — while Mitzna favors withdrawal.
Israel TV reported that the Israeli vehicle was the target of a Palestinian ambush. Large numbers of Israeli soldiers were searching the area, the report said.
The Israeli military would say only that three people were hit by gunfire, but it would not identify them.
Zvi Katsover, mayor of the nearby Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, said that earlier, soldiers were firing flares in the air to find armed Palestinians. "This was apparently the unit that was chasing the terrorists, and engaged them, and the results are known," he told Israel TV.
The attack took place in a sparsely-populated area of the West Bank, south of the city of Hebron, which has been a focus of violence over more than two years of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.
Tensions have been high in Hebron since Nov. 16, when 12 Israeli security forces were killed in a night ambush. The attack prompted the Israeli army to take over the Palestinian-controlled section of the city. Also, on Friday, Palestinians shot and killed an Israeli settler in a house just outside Hebron.