MIDDLE EAST: Israeli troops and armoured vehicles raided the West Bank city of Tul Karm and its adjacent refugee camp early yesterday, in response to an attack by a Palestinian gunman on a kibbutz in northern Israel on Sunday in which five people were killed.
The military action came as US envoy David Satterfield began a visit to the region in what is already being viewed as a largely futile attempt to promote a new peace plan. Troops swept into Tul Karm in what army sources said was a hunt for the Palestinian who gunned down the five, including a mother and her two children in their bedroom at Kibbutz Metzer, close to the northern West Bank.
The gunman, who is a member of the Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, escaped after the attack. Troops withdrew to the outskirts of Tul Karm, but imposed a tight blockade on the city. Just north, in the village of Shweike, Israeli troops demolished the home of Mohammed Naifeh, whom the military said was responsible for despatching the gunman to Kibbutz Metzer.
Funerals were held on both sides yesterday for children killed in the conflict. Revital Ohayon (34), and her two sons, aged 4 and 5, who were killed in the kibbutz attack, were laid to rest, as was two-year-old Nafez Mashal, who was shot dead on Sunday night by Israeli troops in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza.
While the military said soldiers had opened fire after being shot at in the Rafah area, the boy's father, Khaled, insisted the shooting was unprovoked. "I will never forget his smile while he was playing, before he got shot," he said.
Mr Satterfield, meanwhile, began meetings yesterday with Israeli and Palestinian officials over a proposal by the Quartet - US, Russian, EU and UN mediators - for far-reaching reforms to the Palestinian Authority and an Israeli withdrawal from areas it has reoccupied in the West Bank, as the initial steps to the ultimate creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat said yesterday that he accepted the plan "in principle", but the Palestinians are likely to present Mr Satterfield with a list of reservations.
Despite Mr Satterfield's presence, few foresee any movement on the diplomatic front ahead of Israeli elections on January 28th, and a possible US strike on Iraq.
Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu continued their showdown over the leadership of the ruling right-wing Likud yesterday, with Mr Netanyahu telling a party convention that "the first thing" he would do on becoming prime minister was to "expel Arafat". In a barb clearly aimed at his party rival - the two men face off in a primary on November 28th - Mr Sharon replied by telling the convention that "security is not built on slogans".