Military

DATE=12/28/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-297865

BYLINE= SONJA PACE

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A booby-trapped car exploded early Saturday in the heart of west Jerusalem, injuring the would-be bomber. V-O-A's Sonja Pace reports from Jerusalem, the explosion occurred just hours after two Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis, before being shot dead, in an attack on a West Bank settlement.

TEXT: No one was hurt in the Jerusalem attack, except the apparent bomber, who suffered light injuries when only one of the two gas canisters he planned to detonate went off.

He was arrested, and police cordoned off the neighborhood.

The incident occurred at one o'clock in the morning, in an area of the city with restaurants and pubs that is popular with young people. The attacker was identified as an east Jerusalem resident, who had previously worked in one of the nightspots.

At least four Israelis were killed just a few hours earlier, when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire inside a dining hall in a West Bank Jewish settlement.

Eight others were wounded in the shooting Friday at the Otniel settlement, southwest of Hebron. Israeli soldiers shot and killed one of the gunmen during a 30-minute gunbattle in the dining hall.

The other was killed two hours later in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in the nearby village of Dahariya.

The militant group, Islamic Jihad, has claimed responsibility for the Otniel shooting. It was the first major attack by Palestinian militants in nearly a month.

It comes one day after Israeli troops shot dead at least seven Palestinians in a series of clashes across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian militant groups had vowed revenge for the killings, most of which took place in the West Bank, as Israeli troops carried out a widespread hunt for militants.

The Palestinian leadership has accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of escalating the violence in a bid to win votes in next month's legislative elections.

The Israeli military says its operations will continue. Israel has occupied most West Bank cities since a string of Palestinian attacks in June. (Signed)

NEB/SP/TW