MIDDLE EAST: Hours after leaders of the international "Quartet" of would-be Middle East peacemakers had urged the Palestinian leadership to take "immediate" action to prevent terrorism, a Palestinian gunman last night killed two Israelis - a seven-month-old baby and a man of about 30 - in an attack on a settlement in the West Bank.
The gunman knocked at the door of a home in the settlement of Negohot, near Hebron, and fired on the family when it was opened. Members of the family were seated at a table for a meal marking the start of the Jewish New Year.
The gunman was shot dead a short time later.
Israel had been on a heightened security alert amid intelligence warnings of planned attacks and had sealed all crossing points from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel.
Meeting in New York, the Quartet - comprising the US, European Union, Russia and the United Nations - issued a statement calling on Israel to put a halt to settlement activity. But it appeared to primarily blame the Palestinian Authority for the deadlock which has all but derailed its "road map" framework for peace and eventual Palestinian statehood.
Condemning the "vicious terror attacks" of the past two months, the Quartet leaders demanded that the Palestinian Authority "take immediate and decisive steps against individuals and groups planning violent attacks". A new Palestinian government is due to be named soon by the incoming prime minister, Mr Ahmed Korei, and Israel and the US have been urging Mr Korei to jail the leaders of Hamas and other extremist groups.
However, Israel is wary of the incoming government, believing that it will be dominated by the Palestinian Authority president, Mr Yasser Arafat, whom Israel has vowed to "remove".
Undeterred by last week's overwhelming UN General Assembly vote opposing such a move, Israel's prime minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, reiterated yesterday that Israel was determined to remove Mr Arafat, although he promised to take US concerns into account. "The fundamental decision to remove Arafat has been adopted by Israel," Mr Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot daily. While it would be Israel's preference to expel rather than kill the Palestinian leader, the prime minister added that he was aware that Mr Arafat might be injured, or worse, if and when troops moved into his Ramallah headquarters.
"It is very difficult to ensure that he [Mr Arafat\] won't be harmed if we seize him," Mr Sharon said.