Sharon vows harsher response post-pullout

JERUSALEM - Israel's response to Palestinian violence after a pullout from the Gaza Strip would be harsher than it is now, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday.

Interviewed on Israel's Channel 10 television for Israel's independence day, Sharon defended his "unilateral disengagement" plan, including a pullout from the Gaza Strip. Members of his Likud Party vote on the plan in a referendum on Sunday.

After a pullout, Palestinians could no longer explain violence by saying Israel was occupying their land, Sharon said, "and Israel's responses (to violence) would be much harsher."

He refused to give specifics beyond noting that Israel is taking stiff measures, an apparent reference to the killing of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin on March 22 and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, three weeks later.

In Gaza Tuesday, tens of thousands of Israelis streamed to Gush Katif, a bloc of Israeli settlements, to celebrate Israel's independence day and protest Sharon's plan.

Also in Gaza, an unusual confrontation late Monday resulted in the deaths of three - a Hamas militant and two armed men who tried to steal the militant's explosives, according to Hamas and Palestinian security officials.

Hamas said the gunmen were collaborators with Israeli intelligence, while Palestinian security officials said they were criminals who were involved in a car theft ring that brought stolen vehicles from Israel to Gaza.

Hamas said the bomber was on his way to try to infiltrate Israel, accompanied by another Hamas member and a guide, when they were stopped by the armed men.

The robbers forced the bomber to lie on the ground and tried to steal the bomb, but the militant detonated it, killing all three. The other Hamas man and the guide escaped.

There have been cases of rival groups stealing each other's explosives, but no group claimed the two gunmen. Their families did not go to the hospital to retrieve the bodies, indicating the two were not militants, who are revered in Palestinian society.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli troops raided the Tulkarem refugee camp with armored personnel carriers early Tuesday and conducted house-to-house searches. Soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen, killing two and seriously wounding one.

Israeli military officials said one of the dead was Ashraf Nafa, 21, the Hamas leader in Tulkarem. The other was Amjad Amra, 21, from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. The officials said both had links to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and planned attacks against Israelis.

The wounded man, a member of Hamas, was taken to an Israeli hospital.

Hamas has been threatening retaliatory attacks since Israel killed Yassin and Rantisi. Because of the threats, security was especially tight for Israel's independence day holiday on Tuesday.

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