Thousands of Palestinians attending the funeral of a three-month-bay and two members of her family on Friday vowed revenge, amid expected escalation of the conflict.
Haaretz reported that the Israeli defense ministry was expecting an escalation of “violence” Friday during the funerals and following prayers and increased the number of forces in the region, already jamming the Green Line separating the Palestinian lands and Israel.
Al Jazeera satellite channel reported that one Palestinian received a bullet in the head and was in a very serious condition following clashes in Hebron, where the massacre took place late Thursday.
Azmi as-Shemas, 24, took a bullet in the head during a brief exchange of fire in Hebron, where gunbattles raged throughout the night following the killing of the three Palestinians.
Seventeen Palestinians were wounded overnight in a night of running gun battles after the massacre.
The baby, Dhiyaa Tmeizi, was killed together with two members of his family in an ambush staged by members the so-called Road Security Committee, an underground Jewish settlers terrorist organization, who stopped the car and showered its passengers with machinegun fire, killing the three and injuring five, one seriously before fleeing the scene into Israel, according to reports.
According to Haaretz, the wounded include another baby girl, aged six months, and a sixteen-year-old.
The other victims were identified as Mohammed Salameh Tmeizi, 22, and Mohammed Hilmy Tmeizi, 20.
In response, the Palestinian Authority held Israel "entirely responsible" for the attack which occurred on the way to the family's village, Ithna.
The PLO mainstream movement, Fateh, announced Friday that its members would avenge the murders by continuing to attack settlers. Hamas called on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to formally announce an end to negotiations with Israel.
The crime put Israel in a situation that it had to condemn the attack and vow a probe to punish the perpetrators.
"We hold the Israeli government responsible for the explosion of the situation and for this dangerous escalation which has resulted in the murder of Palestinians near Hebron by extremist settlers," Nabil Abu Rudeina, advisor to Arafat, told AFP.
Rudeina called on "the international community, including the American administration and the countries of the G8 meeting in Italy, to intervene immediately to stop the Israeli aggressions."
In the Israeli side, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "condemned" the attack saying, "The State of Israel condemns all acts of terror and will do its utmost to apprehend those responsible," according to Haaretz, which also quoted President Moshe Katzav as saying, "No man has the right to take the law into their own hands," while Ben-Eliezer noted that the security system would work with the utmost resolve to thwart such acts of terror.
A US State Department spokesperson published a statement condemning the attack and said, "Any attack intended to kill civilians is a barbaric act."
A spokesman for YESHA, the settler umbrella group in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said, "If it becomes evident that the deadly attack tonight [Thursday] was carried out by an Israeli, then YESHA strongly condemns this criminal act." He added that such an attack could cause damage to the settlement movement, added the paper.
The "Committee for Security on the Roads" took responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to the media, said Haaretz.
Israel Television's Channel One reported that the Israeli car escaped towards Israel after the shooting. Police spokesman Rafi Yaffe was quoted as saying that gunfire at the Palestinian vehicle came from another car, which fled the scene.
Police sources told the paper that they found no bullet cartridges at the scene of the attack, which leads them to believe that the attackers were trying not to leave incriminating evidence behind.
The Committee for Security on the Roads has appeared off and on over the last 15 years and is identified with Kach, an extremist Jewish group outlawed by the government for its racist agenda. Kach founder Meir Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer has given a conditional agreement to international observers. He said Friday that Israel would accept foreign observers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if it were forced to, and if they were American.
"We are opposed to any observers but if they were imposed on us the presence of American observers would be acceptable," he told public radio, cited by AFP.
But his statement was not conformed by other officials in Israel.
Foreign ministers of the G-8 group of leading industrial countries, including the United States, said in Rome Thursday that international observers should be sent to the violence-wracked area.
Washington, which had previously followed Israel's line in opposing such monitors, is the Jewish state's closest ally and sympathizer.
"We could agree to this because the United States follows closely what is happening and knows how (Palestinian) terrorism is growing and that it must be fought," Ben Eliezer said.
Only hours before, the Israeli minister, a hawkish member of the Labor Party, had repeated his government's opposition to observers in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"The deployment of international observers would not contribute to calm on the ground," he said. "On the contrary (it would) create the feeling among the Palestinians that they had a shield behind which they would continue to carry out violence and terrorism."
Sharon also told Israel's second television channel that it was "important that no decision be taken to constrain the state of Israel into accepting an initiative that it rejects."
The G8 foreign ministers, meeting ahead of a summit of the group in Genoa opening Friday, said, "We believe that ... third party monitoring accepted by both parties would serve their interests in implementing the Mitchell report," a plan for ending 10 months of violence and resuming peace talks - Albawaba.com
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