Death of Israeli girl fuels more violence

Palestinian women sit amid on the rubble of their demolished house in Rafah refugee camp in the southern of Gaza strip yesterday. Israeli army troops demolished three houses in the area as Egyptian envoys failed to achieve a breakthrough in talks with Palestinian militants aimed at arranging a ceasefire with Israel and salvaging a US-backed peace 'roadmap' plan battered by violence. Photo: AFP

Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli girl on a road near the West Bank, feeding a cycle of violence that has battered a peace plan US Secretary of State Colin Powell will try to rescue in a new Middle East visit.

The attack on a car near Kibbutz Eyal in central Israel late on Tuesday was launched shortly after Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas failed in another bid to persuade militants to call a truce with Israel.

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Medics said the dead girl was aged seven and identified two people wounded in the attack as her five-year-old sister and father. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting which the army said was carried out by Palestinians.

"We have re-emphasised that resistance is a legitimate right of our people," Mohammed al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad official, said after Abbas sat down with representatives of 13 militant factions for three-and-a-half hours in Gaza City.

Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior leader of Hamas, said a cease-fire was still under discussion.

More than 50 people have died in tit-for-tat Israeli-Palestinian attacks since Abbas, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon affirmed a peace "road map" at a summit in Aqaba, Jordan, on June 4.

Facing the prospect of the collapse of the most ambitious Middle East peace plan in more than two years, the United States said Powell would come to Israel on Friday to mediate.

Meanwhile Israel has agreed to curb "track-and-kill" operations against Palestinian militants in a deal struck with US officials to help them salvage a new peace plan torn by violence, security sources said on Wednesday.

After more than 50 people were killed in a rash of attacks and counter-attacks last week, Washington demanded restraint to enable confidence-building steps required of each side by the "road map" plan launched by President Bush on June 4.

But security sources said Israel would now target only militants identified as likely to carry out a suicide bombing or other attack imminently, not top political figures.

"We have undertaken to limit our track-and-kill operations to terrorists who are definitely 'ticking bombs'. When it comes to more borderline cases such as Rantissi, who is in a command position, we will hold fire as much as possible," one Israel security source told Reuters.

"This is to demonstrate to all sides that Israel is serious about giving the current round of talks the best chance of succeeding and forestall Palestinian charges of 'sabotage'."

The deal was worked out by Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, in the latest of a series of trips he has made to the White House to resolve disputes over a peace plan Sharon's right-wing cabinet endorsed only under US pressure.

It envisages the creation of a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory by 2005 after a dismantling of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a Palestinian crackdown on militants sworn to destroying Israel.

Security sources denied Israeli media reports the policy would apply for just six weeks. "This is not for a set period of time, nor is it linked to any action or inaction on the part of the Palestinian (authorities)," one said.

Anxious not to see the most ambitious Middle East peace plan in more than two years ruined by vengeful violence, Bush decided to dispatch Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region on Friday to mediate -- his second trip in a month.