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Israeli Politicians Condemn Hebron Killing
Israeli figures across the political spectrum on Friday condemned the killing of three Palestinians, including a 10-week-old baby girl, by Jewish gunmen near the West Bank city of Hebron Thursday night.
A Jewish radical underground group, "The Committee for Road Safety," has claimed responsibility for the killing, in which four other Palestinians were also injured, including a four-month-old baby girl.
In a statement Friday morning, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: "Israel will apprehend those who perpetrated the abominable murder ... yesterday (Thursday) evening and will punish them to the fullest extent of the law."
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, Peres' party colleague in the left-wing Labor party, told Israel Radio Friday morning that " Palestinian blood is as red as Israelis."
He expressed hopes that the perpetrators would be apprehended soon, adding that if they are part of a network, the network should be destroyed as well, "whether the attack was sporadic or thoroughly planned."
Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid's spokeswomen Yossi Gazit told Xinhua that the leader of the left-wing Meretz party urged the police to arrest those responsible as soon as possible and punish them.
She added that Sarid believes that the killing was a result of the connivance policy of the government led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon toward Jewish settlers, who are living in settlements illegally built on the occupied Palestinian lands and usually oppose the peace process with the Palestinians.
Sharon's office already issued a condemnation of the shooting attack late Thursday night, saying that "the prime minister and the Israeli government condemn all forms of terror and violence, regardless of who committed them."
"We regret the loss of innocent lives," the statement continued. "At present an investigation is under way, and we are unable to determine the identity of the perpetrators of the attack and the conditions surrounding it. We will spare no effort to bring the perpetrators to justice."
Witnesses said that the attackers sped away from the scene to a nearby Jewish settlement.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav said: "The State of Israel condemns all acts of terror and will do its utmost to apprehend those responsible. No man has the right to take the law into their own hands."
Israeli chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau Friday morning also issued a statement to denounce the ambush, saying "even in our most difficult hours, it is inconceivable that citizens would take the law into their own hands."
"With all the understanding in the world of the frustration and mounting anger, we cannot in any circumstances allow the creation of Jewish armed militias," he added.
National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a leading hawk in the Sharon government, also criticised the killing by saying it was "damaging to the national interest." "There is no benefit in murdering a baby," he said.
A spokesman for YESHA, the settler umbrella group in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said, "If it becomes evident that the deadly attack 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.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the Palestinian mainstream movement Fatah announced on Friday that its members would avenge the murders by continuing to attack settlers.
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