Palestinian gunmen kill two Jewish settlers

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his security Cabinet into a special late-night session to discuss the attack, the first time Palestinians have infiltrated a settlement and killed Israelis during a year of fighting.

The shooting rampage came only hours after US President George Bush expressed support for a Palestinian state and spoke about efforts to revive Mideast peacemaking.

The Palestinians, who have been urging greater US involvement in the region, welcomed Bush’s remarks.

But the latest violence again overshadowed political moves.

Three Palestinian militants slipped into the Alei Sinai settlement on the northern tip of the Gaza Strip, shooting at several residents and soldiers before entering a home.

Two Israeli teenagers were killed and 11 more Israelis were injured, two of them babies and three of them soldiers, the army said.

The settlement is protected by army outposts and patrols but has no fence around it, Alei Sinai secretary Effie Eitan said.

Two of the militants were killed by troops and another was involved but it was not clear what happened to him, Israeli Cabinet Minister Tzipi Livni said.

She dismissed reports that the attackers had held hostages. Military officials said the residents of one home managed to climb out a window after two militants entered the building.

In Gaza city, Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar said the military wing of the Islamic group carried out the raid. He said it was to mark the start of the second year of the Palestinian uprising, adding that Hamas does not differentiate between Israeli soldiers and settlers as targets for attacks.

About 6,000 Jewish settlers reside in closely guarded enclaves in Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians live.

The shootings marked the first killing of Israelis in eight days, but was sure to damage the truce worked out last week.

Sharon called the attack a ‘‘terrible act of terror’’ in a speech in Jerusalem.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ‘‘established a coalition of terror, whose strategy is terror,’’ Sharon said. He said Palestinian attacks ‘‘did not stop for one minute’’ since the ceasefire.

The Palestinian Authority denounced the attack in a statement.

‘‘The Palestinian leadership condemns completely the attack that took place in the Jewish settlement of Alei Sinai and considers it a violation to the ceasefire declared,’’ it said.

Arafat gave orders to Palestinian security to search for those responsible for orchestrating the attack, the statement said.

The latest truce was declared last Wednesday, at US urging, but each side charges the other with constant violations.

Earlier yesterday, Bush said in Washington that ‘‘the idea of a Palestinian state has always been a part of a vision so long as the right to an Israeli state is respected.’’

His administration was planning to introduce a new peace initiative, but it was put on hold by the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. The new peacemaking plan is only now beginning to take shape again, a senior US official said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat welcomed Bush’s remarks. ‘‘I think it’s time for the American administration to declare its support for a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel,’’ he said.

An aide to Sharon said that full calm must be restored before full-scale peace negotiations can resume.

Daniel Ayalon, the foreign policy adviser to Sharon, said Israel’s most immediate priority was ending a year of violence. ‘‘Everything will be put off until the violence stops,’’ he said.

For months, the Palestinians have been calling on the Bush administration to get more involved, saying there was little hope for progress without outside intervention.

Sharon has often said that he would be willing to seek a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians, but does not believe a final settlement is possible at present. He has raised the possibility of a Palestinian state, but has not detailed his plans.

The Palestinians are seeking a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Peace negotiations which included the prospect of a Palestinian state broke down amid the current fighting in January. Sharon was elected in February.

The ongoing violence is seen as an obstacle to US efforts to enlist Arab states in Washington’s international anti-terrorism efforts.

In another development, Palestinian security forces on Tuesday arrested Atef Abayyat, a Palestinian militia leader suspected of involvement in the multiple shooting attacks against Israeli targets, including the recent death of an Israeli woman, according to Israel. Livni said the arrest was not enough and that the Palestinians had to arrest more than 100 more militants suspected of involvement in the violence.

Throughout the past year of fighting, the Palestinians have been resisting such Israeli demands.