RIYADH/GAZA, 5 February — Five Palestinian activists were killed when a car was blown up in the Gaza Strip yesterday in a blast which Palestinians and an Israeli security source said was set off by Israel. The killings raised tensions three days before the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets US President George W. Bush in Washington.
Maj. Khaled Abu Al-Ula, a senior Palestinian security official, said an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at the car while four of the men were inside and the fifth stood nearby. An Israeli security source said it had been booby- trapped.
"This means it (Israel) does not want calm. It wants the continuation of the escalation against our mighty people," Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told reporters at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
A statement from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), identified the five men as its members.
Muhammad Kishta, a farmer who rushed to the blast scene on a rural road near the Rafah refugee camp close to the border with Egypt, said he saw bodies burning and heard an unmanned drone aircraft, used for reconnaissance, flying overhead. "Our front-line fighters will carry out a fierce retaliation," DFLP spokesman Talal Abu Tharifa said.
Saudi Arabia yesterday urged Arab and Islamic countries to take a united stand to confront the growing challenges facing them as well as to redress the present situation in the Palestinian territories.
Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, made this comment while briefing the Cabinet on the outcome of talks between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and King Muhammad of Morocco.
"The talks focused on the need for serious efforts to unity Arab and Islamic ranks in order to face the situations and their consequences, especially the current developments in the Palestinian territories," the crown prince said.
Earlier yesterday Israeli helicopters launched a missile attack on a Palestinian metal works in the Jabaliya refugee camp to the north of the Gaza Strip, causing severe damage but no casualties.
An Israeli military spokesman alleged the factory was producing mortar bombs. The Palestinian Authority denied the factory made mortars and said it produced plastics. An Israeli helicopter also attacked a Palestinian police position at Rafah early yesterday, causing a number of injuries, a Palestinian security source said.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, an Israeli unit moved into the Palestinian autonomous zone of Bethlehem.
