GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (June 10) - Israeli helicopters fired missiles at the
car of a senior Hamas leader Tuesday, wounding him, killing two bystanders and
jeopardizing the U.S.-backed road map to Mideast peace.

The botched attack on Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the most high-profile political
leader of the Islamic militant group to be targeted by Israel, came just as some
Hamas leaders were saying they would consider talks with the Palestinian
Authority on signing on to a truce with Israel.

After the strike, Hamas threatened revenge and said Israeli politicians would
be targeted.

Outraged Palestinian Authority leaders accused Israel of trying to destroy
the road map, a plan for Palestinian statehood by 2005 that was formally
launched by President Bush with local leaders at the Aqaba summit last week.

Israeli officials declined comment.

Israel was sending mixed messages with its actions Tuesday. On the one hand,
Israeli troops dismantled 10 tiny uninhabited settlement outposts in the West
Bank overnight, in line with the first road map requirements. However, the
missile strike threatened to unleash more attacks on Israelis, just as Egypt was
trying to persuade Hamas to resume truce talks with the Palestinian prime
minister, Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel has accused veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of trying to
undercut Abbas in trying to negotiate a truce. Israel Radio on Tuesday quoted
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying Israel may soon expel Arafat, a
step that until now has been blocked by the United States. Mofaz spoke at a
closed-door session of parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.

The attack on Rantisi further weakened Abbas, who has been criticized at home
for pledging to end the ''armed intefadeh'' while getting little in return
from Israel.

The road map says Israel must refrain from actions that undermine trust, but
does not specifically rule out the targeted killings of Palestinian militants.

However, Israel indicated after its acceptance of the road map last month
that it would from now on reserve the practice of targeted killings to ''ticking
bomb'' scenarios, as a last means of preventing an attack on Israelis.

Rantisi is a political leader of Hamas and a frequent spokesman for the
group, but he has been careful to deny all knowledge of the actions of the military
wing.

The attack on Rantisi began before noon Tuesday, when three Israeli Apache
helicopter gunships appeared over the skies of Gaza City. In quick succession,
they fired seven missiles toward Rantisi's Jeep Pajero as it was driving in a
crowded thoroughfare, near a 16-floor apartment building.

The jeep burst into flames and was reduced to a scorched pile of metal.

A witness, bread vendor Salim Abdullah, 23, said the first missile missed
Rantisi's car. ''The doctor (Rantisi) ran from the car. One of the helicopters
started firing machine guns at him while he was running. At the time, I was
hiding next to a wall. I saw the doctor bleeding,'' said Abdullah, who was also
injured.

A Rantisi bodyguard and a 44-year-old woman, were killed, said Dr. Moawiya
Hassanain, director of Shifa Hospital. Hassanain initially said an 8-year-old
girl was also killed, but later said she was in critical condition.

Twenty-seven people were hurt, including Rantisi, his son Ahmed and three of
his bodyguards. The others were bystanders, including three who were in
critical condition, Hassanain said.

Rantisi was injured in the right leg and underwent an operation. ''Rantisi is
suffering from torn arteries,'' said another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, a
surgeon who performed the operation. ''He's in stable condition.''

Thousands of Hamas supporters crowded the courtyard outside Shifa Hospital
after the missile strike, chanting slogans against Abbas, also known as Abu
Mazen. ''Abu Mazen, we want resistance,'' the crowded shouted.

Dozens of Hamas gunmen fired their assault rifles in the air.

Zahar said there would be quick retaliation, adding that ''the Hamas response
will be like an earthquake.'' When asked whether this would include targeting
Israeli politicians, Zahar said: ''An eye for an eye ... a politician for a
politician.''

Zahar also said that Palestinians ''must throw the road map into the garbage
and commit to the map of holy war.''

Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings and shootings in the past
32 months of fighting. On Sunday, Hamas, along with two other militias, killed
four Israeli soldiers in a shooting attack at an army outpost in Gaza.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, accused Israel of trying
to destroy the peace plan by making it impossible for Abbas to negotiate a
cease-fire with Hamas. ''This is an attack against the road map. This is an attack
against the efforts of George Bush,'' Abed Rabbo said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has only reluctantly accepted the
three-stage prescription for Palestinian statehood by 2005. Sharon has said he would
meet Israel's obligations under the road map, but has been evasive about full
compliance with the first step - the dismantling of dozens of settlement
outposts established in the West Bank since he took office March 2001.

Overnight, troops pulled down 10 uninhabited outposts, and were to remove
five more, including four populated ones, later in the day.

The missile strike came just hours after Hamas leaders said they were
considering resuming truce talks with Abbas. Only four days earlier, Hamas had said
it was breaking off contacts with the Palestinian prime minister, accusing him
of making too many concessions to Israel.

Under the Mideast peace plan, Palestinians must disarm and dismantle
Palestinian militias. Abbas has said he would not use force against the militias under
any circumstances because he wants to avoid civil war. However, at a news
conference Monday, he also issued a veiled threat, telling the groups that those
who walk away from truce talks will be responsible for the consequences.

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