Military

DATE=01/17/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-285379

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: Police say at least six Israelis are dead and 30 injured after an attack by a Palestinian gunman. Correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Israeli police say a Palestinian fired a gun and attempted to throw a hand grenade into a wedding hall in the northern city of Hadera.

Police say the man entered the hall during a religious ceremony marking a Jewish child's passage into adulthood, and opened fire with an automatic weapon.

The attacker was overtaken by people in the hall and security guards and was killed by police.

Hadera is located near the line separating Israel from the West Bank and has been the scene of Palestinian bombings in recent months.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The faction says the assault was in retaliation for the death of Raed Karmi, the militia's leader in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

Mr. Karmi was killed in an explosion earlier this week. Palestinians blamed Israel for the killing but the Jewish state has not confirmed its involvement in the blast.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner blamed the latest violence on Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.

/// PAZNER ACT ///

This is the sad result of the inaction or, maybe I should rather say, the collusion and the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the various terrorist organizations. Arafat has been doing absolutely nothing to dismantle those terrorist organizations, to arrest those members, and now the sad, tragic result we see them on the streets of Israel. It appears those terrorist organizations have an endless taste for murdering Jews.

/// END ACT ///

Israel tightened its blockade of towns in the West Bank following the killings this week of several Israelis by Palestinian gunmen.

Meanwhile, the military wing of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is threatening to kill Mr. Arafat's security chiefs if any more of the organization's leaders are arrested.

The Palestinian Authority detained P-F-L-P leader Ahmed Saadat for questioning in connection with the assassination last October of an Israeli cabinet minister.

The P-F-L-P has claimed responsibility for the killing.

Members of the group say Mr. Saadat's arrest is due to pressure from Israel and the United States.(Signed)

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