US concerned over Gaza attacks

Tuesday's helicopter attack that wounded Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi of Hamas raised the spectre of another welter tit-for-tat bloodshed undermining the new moderate Palestinian premier's bid to sideline militants hostile to negotiated peace.

Another violent spree by militants, as Hamas gunmen swiftly threatened in response to the attempt on Rantissi, could also halt Israel's evacuation of settler outposts on occupied land required by a peace plan it accepted only under US pressure.

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Asked by reporters in Washington whether the helicopter missile strike that Rantissi barely eluded in downtown Gaza City was "out of bounds" of the peace plan known as the "road map," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "That's correct."

President Bush vowed to persevere with the road map but said the assault on Rantissi could weaken Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who wants militants to call off a campaign of suicide bombings and ambush shootings.

"I'm concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks. I also don't believe the attacks helped Israeli security."

Bush ordered top aides to urgently convey those points to Israeli and Palestinian officials and lean on them to stick to the letter and spirit of the road map, which stipulates reciprocal concessions leading to a Palestinian state by 2005.

Hamas is on Washington's list of "terrorist" groups.

Israel defended itself against the US rebuke for its attempted assassination of a Palestinian militant leader that further undermined a Middle East peace plan.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered aides to turn over intelligence to US officials to back accusations that Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, the public face of the radical Islamic group Hamas, had been coordinating attacks on Israelis.

"This information is intended to show that Rantissi was not just a ticking bomb but a factory of ticking bombs," a senior Israeli security source said.

The helicopter missile strike that wounded Rantissi in Gaza on Tuesday drew vows of revenge from Hamas, raising the spectre of a new cycle of bloodshed that could bury a US-backed "road map" aimed at ending 32 months of conflict.

Israel killed one of Rantissi's aides and a woman bystander in the attack. Hamas responded by firing rockets into a town in nearby Israel, prompting a second helicopter attack that killed three more Palestinians -- all civilians.

Some Israeli political commentators joined in the criticism of Sharon, including suggestions the right-wing leader had used the assassination attempt to try to mollify hard-liners fiercely opposed to his acceptance of the road map.

"Targeted screw-up" was what Maariv newspaper commentator Chemi Shalev dubbed the assassination attempt.

"It was a matter of miserable timing," columnist Zvi Barel wrote in the daily Haaretz, saying the missiles unleashed against Rantissi had effectively hit Bush and Abbas.