Palestinians step up attacks as truce nears

JERUSALEM - Palestinian militants stepped up violence Thursday against Israelis, dispatching bombers, roadside snipers and a teenage gunman as Palestinian officials and militia leaders discussed the time and place to announce a three-month halt in attacks.

The announcement was expected ahead of the arrival this weekend of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian officials said.

A truce could help end 33 months of violence, a necessary prelude to a U.S.-backed peace plan aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by 2005. It was negotiated by Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian uprising leader jailed by Israel, and the heads of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in Damascus, Syria.

While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not commented on the emerging deal directly, he said Thursday that Israel's military might has taught the Palestinians that violence doesn't pay.

"Today, the Palestinians have begun to understand that their interest compels them to stop terror," Sharon told graduating air force pilots. He said the "long arm of the Israeli defense forces can hit terrorists anywhere, any time."

Sharon's comments came as Israeli troops intercepted four Palestinians carrying two backpacks stuffed with explosives, killing two in a clash and capturing the others.

An Israeli motorist was seriously wounded in a shooting attack in the West Bank late Thursday, and a Palestinian teen killed an Israeli phone company technician near the West Bank before he was seriously wounded by a security guard and captured.

Despite the latest violence, Palestinian leaders said the truce is on track.

"There will not be obstacles," said Jamal Zaqout, a negotiator from the tiny Palestinian political party Fida. "All the Palestinians will abide by this issue," provided the international community presses Israel to "stop their aggression" and "give Palestinians real hope for ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian independent sovereign state."

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Sources close to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat say he has raised $2.5-million from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to finance continued terror attacks against Israel, part of a campaign to undermine efforts by reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to achieve a cease-fire as the first step on the U.S.-backed road map toward peace, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The sources say the Libyan money has been paid into bank accounts controlled by Arafat in Beirut and Cairo to underwrite the terror activities of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the paramilitary wing of Arafat's Fatah movement.

Members of the Brigades confirmed that they were receiving funds from Arafat's office.

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