Israeli Missiles Slam Into Gaza

GAZA CITY, 5 April 2006 — Israeli aircraft yesterday fired three missiles into Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ compound in Gaza, officials said, the first time Israel has attacked a security installation since Hamas took control of the Palestinian government. Israeli tanks also targeted the northern Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding seven, including a mother and her 6-month-old baby.

The Israeli Army said it launched artillery at empty fields in northern Gaza to deter the launching of homemade rockets into Israel. Earlier yesterday, homemade rockets were fired at Israel, causing no injuries.

It was not immediately clear why Abbas’ compound was targeted. Abbas, a moderate whose Fatah party was defeated by Hamas in recent legislative elections, has repeatedly condemned the rocket fire and urged Hamas to accept peace with Israel.

Abbas denounced the airstrike and called for international intervention to stop what he called Israel’s “destruction for the sake of destruction.” He said he contacted “the UN, Russia, the EU and Arab states and told them that these actions complicate daily life and affect our human and social status.”

Abbas, elected separately last year, was at his main headquarters in the West Bank at the time of the airstrike.

In Israel, the two largest political parties pledged to serve together in a new government, setting aside recent bickering. The announcement by the Kadima and Labour parties paved the way for a center-left coalition that could push ahead with a proposed West Bank pullout in the next four years.

The announcement came after a meeting between acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Kadima and Labour leader Amir Peretz. Both men said they would try to forge the new coalition as quickly as possible.

In last week’s election, Kadima emerged as the largest party in Parliament with 29 out of 120 seats, followed by Labour with 19 seats. Under Israel’s electoral system, the president, who holds a largely ceremonial post, traditionally asks the leader of the largest party to try to form a coalition government.

With Peretz standing next to him, Olmert said: “We are happy to announce that immediately after the president gives me the mission of putting together a government, we will open coalition talks that will allow us to form a government in which the Labour Party will be a senior member.”

Labour initially balked at recommending to the president that Olmert be given that job, in what largely appeared to be a negotiating tactic. Labour favors peace talks with the Palestinians. But it also is the party most likely to go along with Olmert’s plan to dismantle dozens of small Jewish settlements, annex major settlement blocs and draw a border in the West Bank by 2010.

Yesterday’s airstrike targeted Ansar 2, a security compound about 100 yards from Abbas’ office in Gaza City.

— With input from agencies

Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News