Israeli airstrike kills militant commander in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- An Israeli airstrike killed a top Palestinian militant commander and a second militant in Gaza on Friday in the highest profile attack against the coastal strip in months.


The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying the slain commander Zuhair al-Qaissi was plotting an infiltration attack into Israel similar to one his group carried out in August that killed eight people. In a statement, the military warned Gaza's Hamas rulers against any retaliation for the strike.


Palestinian witnesses said Israeli drones were seen hovering above just moments before a vehicle exploded into flames, just outside of Gaza City.


Al-Qaissi was the top commander of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee, a large militant group aligned with Hamas. The group's spokesman confirmed his death. He identified the second casualty as Mahmoud Hanini, who hails from the West Bank and was released from an Israeli prison five years and deported to Gaza.


"The coward Zionists have committed an ugly crime and they know the price that they are going to pay," said the spokesman, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Mujahid.


Israel often targets Gaza militants it says are preparing attacks, but tensions have been relatively calm in recent months with Israel mostly targeting smuggling tunnels from Egypt and refraining from targeting individuals. Al-Qaissi, 55, who is also known as Abu Ibrahim, is the highest profile casualty in Gaza in months.


Another Gazan was seriously wounded in the attack. His identity remains unclear.


The Israeli military said that al-Qaida was also in charge of transfering funds from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to other militant groups in Gaza.

Israeli strike misses target, kills 4 Palestinians

Even as British RAF Typhoons took to the skies from this southern Italian air base, there was mounting tension between allies about who should command the mission to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone in Libya.

After heated exchanges between NATO ambassadors in Brussels, the alliance announced Tuesday an operation to enforce the arms embargo against Libya. But it went no further on deciding if or when NATO would take command of the mission already under way, in which several allies are participating.

In a statement, NATO only said that it had plans on the table to enforce the no-fly zone "if needed."

The backdrop was a simmering feud between France and Italy that turned more cynical by the hour. Italy is demanding that NATO take a lead role in the military and political decision-making during the remainder of the Libyan mission.

But resistance within the alliance mounted even as the United States expressed its desire to take a back seat in the operation and hand over any command role to European allies. France seemed most reluctant to submit to NATO command, but Germany and Turkey also voiced objections.

These countries also argue that Arab League nations would be shut out of any decision-making if NATO took control.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he continues to believe it was right not to participate in the United Nations-sanctioned mission. He noted that Germany is not alone in its skeptical view of military action, pointing to the fact that other European nations are not taking part either.

Westerwelle also refused to comment on whether NATO should take a leading role in enforcing U.N. resolution 1973.

"That is for the coalition of the willing to debate," Westerwelle said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French media that NATO would play a role in the mission in coming days but that France, Britain and a council of other coalition partners would make political decisions. One NATO official described this to CNN as putting the alliance's assets at the disposal of the coalition, but NATO would have no formal political role.

Hamas police detain 3 at pro-unity Gaza rally

Hamas police in Gaza detained a Palestinian protester and two Palestinian cameramen on Thursday while breaking up a rally calling for political reconciliation, and 16 other protesters holed themselves up in a U.N. school.

The event took place a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered to go to the Gaza Strip for talks with his Hamas rivals.

About 40 activists gathered in front of a U.N. school, waving flags and chanting slogans for unity between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions. When Hamas police approached the group, it dispersed, and police detained the three Palestinians.

The 16 other Palestinians rushed into the U.N. school compound, where Hamas police are prevented from operating. Protester Nuha Wajeh told reporters by text message that the group vows not to leave the school until representatives from the dueling Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, meet with them and pledge to end their bitter rivalry.

Chris Gunness, spokesman of UNRWA, which aids refugees, said his agency appealed to authorities in Gaza to "allow these 16 people safe passage from the UNRWA compound and to guarantee their safety."

Palestinian president offers to visit Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered Wednesday to form a new government with his bitter rivals in Hamas in an attempt to satisfy Palestinians demanding reconciliation between the Western-backed leader and the Islamic militant group.

Abbas also offered to go to the Gaza Strip, which he has not visited since Hamas overran his forces in 2007 and left the Palestinian Authority in control of the West Bank.

The rift is a major obstacle to the Palestinian objective of establishing an independent state incorporating both territories. Both sides are under heavy pressure to resolve their differences from tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been holding demonstrations inspired by the pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East.

Any effort to mend the Palestinian governments' four-year split is particularly perilous for Abbas, who risks alienating the U.S. and Europe, which consider Hamas a terrorist organization and gives Abbas' administration hundreds of millions of dollars in aid a year.

His outreach appears to reflect his loss of faith in the U.S.-backed peace process with Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and won't renounce violence against the Jewish state or accept previous accords between Israel and the Palestinians. There is no sign it would be willing to do any of those things now.

"I declare that I am ready to go to Gaza tomorrow so as to end the split and form a new government," Abbas said in a speech before senior members of his Fatah Party.

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had asked Abbas to visit as protesters gathered Tuesday in the defacto West Bank capital of Ramallah and the metropolis of Gaza City, waving the green, black, white and red Palestinian flag and chanting: "The people want an end to the division!"

Thousands of Palestinians rally for reconciliation

Thousands of Palestinians thronged major squares in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Tuesday to deliver an impassioned appeal to their leaders to end the long-running feud that has divided the Palestinian people between two rival governments.

Demonstrators on each side of the Palestinian divide hoisted banners urging their leaders to unite the government that split after Hamas militants seized control of Gaza in June 2007, leaving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah Party ruling only the West Bank.

Past reconciliation attempts have failed and the marches seemed unlikely to bring the sides together because Fatah nor Hamas do not seem inclined to relinquish the power they have.

But if the campaign gains strength, it could pressure the rival governments to start talking again. Hamas, in particular, is waiting to see how the situation in neighboring Egypt evolves. The group hopes the next Egyptian government will ease or lift a crippling blockade of Gaza - a development that would strengthen Hamas and boost it in any future negotiations with Fatah.

Speaking to his government in Gaza, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said it was time for the sides to meet and set aside their differences and called on Fatah leaders begin the process of reconciliation.

Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf rejected the offer later Tuesday, saying it wasn't genuine.

"This call of Hamas for unity is not serious, it's rather a way to bypass the people's movement aimed at ending the split. Hamas turned down several initiatives for unity and if it was serious, it would have accepted these initiatives rather than calling for more talks."

The pro-reconciliation demonstration originally was organized by independent activists on Facebook influenced by the changes sweeping through the region. But Fatah and Hamas quickly jumped on the bandwagon, and the two parties clearly dominated Tuesday's rallies.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Gaza City to protest.

Young Hamas supporters were most prominently represented in Gaza, but small groups loyal to Fatah and other small Palestinian factions were also out, as were Facebook activists. There were some scuffles over internal disputes among the groups and four people were treated for wounds sustained by knives and rocks.

In Ramallah, the seat of the West Bank government, some 8,000 demonstrators - most of them university students and youths - marched through a central square, calling for national unity.

The division between the West Bank and Gaza - territories located on opposite sides of Israel that would one day make up a Palestinian state - is a major obstacle to Palestinian independence.

Abbas favors a peaceful settlement with the Israelis, though he halted talks late last year to protest Israeli settlement construction. Hamas has not renounced its commitment to Israel's destruction and opposes negotiations.

Israel approves settlement construction

Israel said Sunday it has approved hundreds of settler homes after five members of an Israeli family - including three children - were knifed to death as they slept in a West Bank settlement over the weekend.

The attack and the government's response threatened to drive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking even further out of reach. Israel, which blames the attack on Palestinian militants, is liable to set aside an emerging peace initiative it had planned to propose, while the planned construction of new settler homes only deepened Palestinian mistrust of Israel.

The settlement construction, approved Saturday night by the Cabinet's ministerial team on settlements, would take place in major West Bank settlement blocs that Israel expects to hold on to in any final peace deal, the prime minister's office said in a text message to reporters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under domestic pressure to respond harshly to the killings, is a member of that team.

Between 300 and 500 apartments and homes were approved for construction, said a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release this information to the media

Palestinian opposition to settlement construction on lands they want for a future state has brought negotiations to a virtual standstill over the past two years, with Palestinians refusing to negotiate directly with Israel as long as it persists.

"We condemn this act of accelerated settlement construction," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. "We urge the international community to intervene and implement the two-state solution. This is the only way out of this vicious circle of violence and counter-violence."

Settler leader Dani Dayan called the government's move "a very small step in the right direction."

Although ground has been broken on as many as 500 apartments and homes since an Israeli moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction expired in late September, the government is holding up approvals on hundreds of other homes, to the settlers' chagrin.

Israel pursues attackers who killed settlers

The Israeli military launched a massive search Saturday for suspected Palestinian militants after an Israeli family of five - including two young children and a baby - were knifed to death overnight as they slept in a West Bank settlement.

Footage from the scene broadcast on Israeli media showed children's toys covered in blood and furniture tipped over.

Israeli officials said Palestinian militants infiltrated the settlement and killed the couple and the children, ages 11 and 3. A baby also was killed.

Israeli media said two young children were asleep in another part of the house and survived. Another family member, a 12-year-old girl, was away at a youth group function when the attack occurred. She found the carnage when she came home and alerted authorities.

Military officials said they had made arrests, but wouldn't provide details.

"This was a very harsh terror attack, a whole family was wiped out by despicable cowardly murderers who came in the dead of night and killed innocent children, a woman and man as they slept," said Avi Mizrachi, commander of the military's Central Command.

The attack at Itamar settlement is the first against settlers in months and the deadliest in years, marking a rare outburst of violence during a relatively calm period. It comes as Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are at a standstill and could complicate efforts to restart them.

Itamar is a small, isolated settlement in the northern West Bank that has rocky relations with the nearby Palestinian towns and villages.

Palestinian security forces also were searching for suspects, Nablus governor Jibril Bakri told The Associated Press.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the attack.

"Violence does not justify violence, we condemn it completely, whoever does it and whoever the victims are," Fayyad told the Associated Press.

Israel: Iranian experts operating in Gaza

A senior Israeli military official says the Islamic militant Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip now looks "much like an army," thanks to direct assistance from Iranian and Hezbollah agents stationed there.

He told The Associated Press that Hamas has recovered from its war against Israel two years ago. He said the militant group now has a "vast amount" of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and a "very big arsenal" of rockets that can strike deep inside Israel, as well as a sophisticated communications system.

He says Hamas could not have developed this expertise without foreign help.

The official, a senior officer in the Israeli military's Southern Command, spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines barring publication of his name.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - A top Israeli diplomat says smuggling of arms from Egypt into the Gaza Strip has grown following the unrest in the Arab world.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says Israel has observed "increased activity" in Gaza. He accused militants of "trying to take advantage of the uncertainties in the region to booster their capabilities to attack Israeli cities and Israeli citizens."

Ayalon says explosives and terrorists are also being smuggled. Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets at Israel in recent years.

Gaza is bordered by Israel and Egypt. After the militant group Hamas seized control in 2007, both nations imposed a blockade.

Hamas uses a vast network of tunnels under the Egyptian border to smuggle in both civilian and military supplies.

Palestinian leader: No state with temporary border

The Palestinian president says he won't accept any Israeli peace initiative if it calls for temporary borders for a future Palestinian state.

Mahmoud Abbas says he hasn't been notified yet of the new plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce in the coming weeks.

The remarks highlight the chasm between Palestinian and Israeli officials over where to begin negotiations that are meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Abbas spoke on Saturday at a press conference in Ramallah.

Netanyahu hasn't revealed details of the new initiative but Palestinians fear it will include provisional borders, which they say could allow Israel to annex remaining lands that they seek for their future state.

Palestinians try to create 'Facebook revolution'

The mass demonstrations sweeping the Middle East are touching the Palestinian territories, where West Bank and Gaza Strip activists are trying to organize their own "Facebook revolutions."

The Palestinian activists are inspired by the calls for democracy that toppled autocratic leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and threaten longtime rulers in Libya and Bahrain.

In recent weeks, activists using Facebook have brought hundreds of people onto streets of the West Bank, waving Palestinian flags and calling for change. Smaller gatherings have taken place in Gaza. The protesters hope to stage a massive demonstration in both areas on March 15.

Whether they can succeed is far from certain because of the unique situation of the Palestinians. In contrast to countries where crowds have rallied against a single, despised leader, the Palestinians face a series of intertwined problems, making it harder to rally around a common cause.