FOUR ISRAELI settlers driving near the city of Hebron were shot dead last night, casting a shadow over the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington.
The shooting, the deadliest attack by militants in the West Bank for more than a year, left four members of the same family dead, including a pregnant woman.
Israeli security forces described the attack as a well-planned ambush and said the gunmen made sure the driver and three passengers, from the Hebron-area settlement of Beit Haggai, were dead before fleeing the scene.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but both Israeli and Palestinian security forces blamed Hamas, which opposed peace contacts with Israel. Hamas spokesman Farzi Barhoum described the attack as “a natural response by the Palestinian resistance to the enemy’s crimes”. The shooting came despite the fact that Israeli security forces in the West Bank had been placed on a high state of alert, fearing militant attacks aimed at torpedoing the peace talks.
Michael Ben-Ari, a member of the Knesset from the right-wing National Union party, said the attack was a reminder to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu of who his partners at the talks would be. “The Likud government’s negotiations with the terrorist Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas are an energy boost to murder and terror. The blood of those harmed is upon the head of the Likud government.”
Other right-wing parliamentarians called on Mr Netanyahu to return home and put the peace negotiations on hold. But minister Gideon Saar said the talks must continue. “I do not think that we need to give a prize to the murderers not to hold talks,” he said.
As Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Netanyahu arrived in Washington for tomorrow’s relaunch of direct peace talks, there was still no solution in sight on the question of what will happen later this month when Israel’s self-imposed 10-month settlement building freeze expires.
Ahead of the first face-to-face bilateral negotiations since Israeli forces invaded Gaza in December 2008, neither leader was showing any sign of compromise.
Mr Abbas, in a televised address to his people before he left for Washington, made it clear that renewed Israeli construction after September 26th was not an option for the Palestinians.
But Mr Netanyahu rejected a compromise suggested by minister Dan Meridor, from his own Likud party, under which building would resume only in the larger settlement blocs which are likely to be incorporated into Israel under a final peace treaty.
On Sunday, Mr Abbas held secret talks in Jordan with Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak. News of the meeting was leaked yesterday.
Speaking to reporters on his way to Washington, Mr Abbas said he would seek an active US role in the talks.
Before departing, Mr Netanyahu told a gathering of Likud activists that he would be cautious during the talks and insist on security guarantees.