Middle East: Israeli troops thwarted an attack by Palestinian gunmen on the isolated Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip yesterday morning, shooting dead two of the attackers and injuring the third.
The attack came hours before the Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon left for the US for talks with President Bush at the White House tomorrow on the evacuation of all 20 settlements in Gaza - home to some 8,000 Jews amidst 1.3 million Palestinians.
Underlining the growing cooperation against Israel between previously rival groups of Palestinian militants, responsibility for the foiled Netzarim attack was shared by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is an offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO. One of the men killed came from Hamas, the second from Islamic Jihad, and the third man, who was injured, is believed to be a member of Al-Aqsa. One man was killed when he infiltrated greenhouses to the north of the settlement. The second was killed when he attacked an army position to the west.
In contrast to such joint armed activity, Islamic Jihad yesterday rejected an overture from Mr Arafat to join the mainstream Palestinian leadership. Islamic Jihad would only partner the PLO were it to cancel its willingness for a new state of Palestine to be established alongside, rather in place of, Israel, said Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad official. "The PLO has recognised Israel and this principle should be changed so that we can join," Mr al-Batsh said. Hamas is still in talks with Mr Arafat's officials.
For Mr Sharon, the very fact that Mr Arafat is prepared to offer a governing partnership to groups that publicly reject Israel's existence serves to confirm that Israel has no credible partner for a negotiated settlement - and thus reinforce his determination to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza and a limited portion of the West Bank.
Mr Bush, who is engaged in one of the most intense periods of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy since taking office, is set to announce his backing for Mr Sharon's plan after they meet tomorrow - a position the Israeli leader hopes will help him win over his divided Likud party.
Mr Bush said yesterday the plan would be a positive development but it would not replace the "road map" peace plan to establish a Palestinian state.
Mr Bush and his officials are also liaising with Egyptian and Jordanian leaders. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, who met Mr Bush yesterday, has agreed to secure the Egyptian side of the Gaza border. Jordan's King Abdullah, who is urging that any unilateral Israeli action not contradict the internationally backed "road map" peace framework, comes to Washington next week.