The West Bank spiraled into violence this week in the wake of Israel's apparent killing in Tulkarm of Tanzim leader Raed al-Karmi, responsible by his own admission for the killing of ten Israeli soldiers and civilians during the past two years.

On Tuesday morning Avi Boaz, 71, was kidnapped and killed near Bethlehem. Boaz, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was a contractor who used his American passport to enter Bethlehem to purchase building materials.

Accompanied by a Palestinian passenger, Boaz drove his vehicle to a PA security checkpoint in Beit Jala, where military sources say that four Palestinian police officers and four armed terrorists, believed to be Fatah members, were present at the roadblock. The terrorists reportedly ordered Boaz to drive his car to nearby Beit Sahur, where they shot him to death.

The Palestinian police officers at the checkpoint reportedly denied witnessing Boaz's abduction, though it took place right in front of them, eyewitnesses reported. IDF officers accused the Palestinians of doing nothing to prevent the kidnapping and murder. The military wing of Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, took credit for the killing.

Yoela Chen, 45, was killed and her aunt moderately wounded Tuesday evening when they stopped at a gas station at the entrance of Givat Zeev, northwest of Jerusalem, on their way to a wedding. Two gunmen approached the car, spoke with the women to verify that they were Israelis, and then shot them at close range. The terrorists reportedly fled in the direction of the village of El-Jib or Ramallah.

On Monday, Palestinian terrorists killed an Israeli soldier and moderately wounded an officer in a revenge attack, one of several shootings that took place over the course of the day in Tulkarm area.

Sgt. Elad Abu-Gani, 19, was killed in an apparent ambush at a temporary roadblock set up near Kuchin earlier on Monday. The roadblock, manned by four soldiers from the IDF's Haruv ("Carob") Brigade, was part of a series of blockades set up by the Israeli army around Tulkarm to prevent reprisals by Karmi's men.

Shortly after arriving at the roadblock, the soldiers noticed two Palestinians nearby and got out of their armed vehicle to inspect them. At that point, other Palestinians ambushed the soldiers, fatally wounding Abu-Gani and moderately injuring unit commander 2nd Lt. Yaniv Uzi-Dan before escaping toward Nablus. Fatah's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a branch of the Tanzim, took responsibility for the attack.

Events interrupt a two-week lull in violence
In separate attacks originating from Tulkarm, bullets struck residences in the Israeli towns of Bat Hefer and Nitzanei Oz near the Green Line, which separates the West Bank from Israel proper. The Border Police said, however, that they believe these were stray bullets rather than intentional shooting by Palestinians.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, shots were fired near an IDF post at Tel Aras, at an IDF post west of Tulkarm, and at a roadblock near the IDF regional headquarters in Samaria. Shots were also fired at a car near Neveh Tzuf, west of Ramallah. Early this morning, shots were fired near Elon Moreh, east of Nablus.

Palestinian sources said that IDF tanks opened fire at a western neighborhood of Tulkarm last night, damaging some houses but causing no casualties.

Monday's spate of shootings followed a two-week period that had seen only two security incidents altogether in the West Bank.

Israel ambiguous, but unapologetic, about al-Karmi's demise
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer denied this morning that Israel was responsible for the killing of al-Karmi, calling it a "work accident." But according to Haaretz, defense sources confirmed that Israel was involved in the lethal action. If so, it would be the first so-called "targeted killing" by Israel since Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's call for a limited cease-fire one month ago.

According to a senior diplomatic official, the absence of targeted killings in more than a month should not be interpreted as an abandonment of the policy in the case of "ticking bombs," which he defined as either someone on their way to carrying out a terror attack, or someone actively involved in planning the attacks, preparing the bombers, and sending them on their way, the category into which al-Karmi fell, he said.

Although recently Israel has made more of an effort to arrest wanted terrorists rather than kill them, the Israeli official said that this is not always practical.

Contradicting military wing, Fatah declares cease-fire still in effect
Fatah's leader in the West Bank, Hussein al Sheikh, told Israel Radio this morning that the organization had not abandoned the cease-fire declared by Arafat in mid-December. This contradicts the Tanzim's annoucement yesterday, following al-Karmi's death, that the cease-fire had been "cancelled."

"We have not stopped the cease-fire," al Sheikh said, adding that he had personally spoken to Arafat. "We respect the decisions of Yasser Arafat, but there is a limit to our patience. There is a lot of pressure on us on the ground. We cannot continue suffering much longer from the war policies [of Sharon]."

Al Sheikh's words were echoed by West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jibril Rajoub, who told the Voice of Palestine today that the PA remained loyal to the cease-fire. Bassam Abu Sharif, an adviser to Arafat, also confirmed that the cease-fire orders still stand.

The IDF, preparing for a potential escalation, tightened the blockade on Tulkarm following the attack in which Abu-Gani was killed, and fortified security along the Green Line, setting up roadblocks in the Sharon area north and east of Tel Aviv, near Petah Tikva and Kfar Saba.

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