/ 6 May 2003

Fatah offshoot claims deadly attack on Jewish settler

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, on Tuesday claimed a West Bank ambush that left a Jewish settler dead and his six-year-old daughter seriously wounded.

In a telephone call, the group said it had ambushed the car of Gideon Lichtman (28) killing him and seriously injuring his six-year-old daughter, who was shot in the face.

An Israeli soldier who was hitchhiking with Lichtman was also seriously wounded with a bullet in the jaw.

The Al-Aqsa group, made up of grassroots Fatah members and said to have a diffuse chain of command, said that despite international peace efforts, ”there is still a struggle against the army and the settlers, who are still in our land.”

Jewish settlements and Israeli forces occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been the main source of Palestinian anger fuelling the 31-month conflict with Israel. – Sapa-AFP