Associated Press

A Palestinian inspects the remains of the car in which a Palestinian militia commander and two fellow militiamen were killed in an explosion in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, late yesterday. Israel had no immediate comment on yesterday's car explosion that killed Atef Abayat, a militia leader in Bethlehem and two fellow gunmen linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Friday October 19, 2001

JERUSALEM - A top Palestinian militia leader and two of his fighters were killed yesterday in the West Bank by an explosion that their colleagues blamed on Israel. The blast came only hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened retaliation for the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli tanks seized outlying neighborhoods of two

Palestinian towns. The incursions triggered gun battles, and doctors said three Palestinians were killed, including a 12-year-old girl hit by Israeli fire at her school.

After nightfall, Palestinians opened fire on a car in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Jericho. An Israeli who was critically wounded died at the scene, rescue workers said. Two others were wounded.

The burst of violence threatened Washington's efforts to retain Arab and

Muslim support for U.S. military action against Islamic militants suspected of having masterminded the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. The United States is courting moderate Arab states and fears Israel-Palestinian violence could interfere.

After Wednesday's killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, Israel demanded that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrest and hand over the assassins and outlaw militant groups.

Israel's police minister, Uzi Landau, said Israeli investigators knew the names of the killers. Israeli media linked an Israel police sweep in a West Bank suburb of Jerusalem to the Zeevi killing. Zeevi, a retired general, advocated the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel hinted it would launch an all-out attack on the Palestinian Authority if its demands were not met.

In Washington, the State Department urged Israel to exercise restraint in response to the shooting death of Zeevi.

Otherwise, deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said, Israel would be letting terrorists derail recent steps toward peace with the Palestinians.

But Reeker offered no support to Israel's insistence it has a right to try Palestinian suspects in Zeevi's death. Jurisdiction in the case is for Israel and Arafat's Palestinian authorities to work out, he said.

Palestinian security forces on Thursday arrested 11 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PLO faction that claimed responsibility for killing Zeevi, security officials said.

It was not clear whether any of those in custody, eight in the Gaza Strip and three in the West Bank town of Ramallah, had direct links to the killers. Several of those detained were leaders of the PFLP's political wing, the security officials said.

Palestinian officials said they would try to find and punish the killers, but would not hand them to Israel. "We do not receive our orders or directions from Sharon and his government," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

In an apparent challenge to Palestinian militants, a senior Arafat adviser, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, announced yesterday that all groups that violate a Sept. 26 cease-fire deal with Israel were being considered illegal by the Palestinian Authority. The statement suggested that members of those groups might now be subject to arrest.

The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israel, have said they would not observe the truce. Israel has complained that Arafat has done nothing to rein in militants, and held Arafat directly responsible for Zeevi's killing.

In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, three Palestinian gunmen, including local militia leader Atef Abayat, were killed yesterday when their jeep exploded. Abayat, who led a band of gunmen linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, was wanted by Israel for killing an Israeli motorist in a roadside ambush last month. Palestinians said the other two were

members of his militia.

A local Fatah spokesman said Abayat had obtained the jeep earlier yesterday, and accused Israel of planting the explosives. Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian information minister, also blamed Israel for the blast.

Israeli government spokesman Dore Gold said, "We are not confirming or denying what Israel did or didn't do" concerning the Abayat killing. A statement from Sharon's office said the blast was a "work accident," claiming Abayat might have been preparing a car bomb, a contention ridiculed by Palestinians.

In the past year, more than 50 Palestinians, including several bystanders, have been killed in targeted attacks on suspected militants. The PFLP said it killed Zeevi to avenge its leader, Mustafa Zibri, who was killed in an Israeli missiles attack Aug. 27.

In response to the Bethlehem blast, Palestinian gunmen fired at Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood built on war-won land on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israeli troops

returned fire, but there were no reports of injuries.

Also yesterday, Israeli tanks took up positions in outlying districts of the Palestinian towns of Jenin and Ramallah, drawing Palestinian fire. Troops imposed curfews in the areas they seized, Palestinian witnesses said.

Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Jamil Tarifi said he saw Israeli tanks moving outside his home. Several Palestinian Authority ministries are located in the areas seized by Israel, and tanks moved amid luxury high-rises.

In Jenin, shots fired from advancing Israeli tanks hit a classroom in an elementary school, killing a 12-year-old Palestinian girl and seriously wounding a classmate, Palestinian doctors said.

The Israeli military confirmed there was an exchange of fire near the school and said an officer had been relieved of his command for leading his troops too far.

In Ramallah, two members of the Palestinian security forces were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops, witnesses said.