The Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a gunman cut through the security fence meant to shield the kibbutz from the adjacent West Bank. Within minutes, he had slipped into a nearby house, where he took point blank aim at two children sleeping in their beds, also killing the mother of the boys, Matan, 4, and Noam, 5.
Before making his escape into the darkness of the agricultural backyard of the village, he also gunned down a woman strolling nearby, and traded fire with and shot dead the secretary of the kibbutz, the communal village's most senior official.
The Palestinian Authority condemned Monday morning the deadly attack on Kibbutz Metzer in which five Israelis were killed, and one source in PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah party called the attack a "mistake." Killing civilians, including a couple little kids, might be termed a "mistake," yeah...
"Harming Israeli and Palestinian civilians and turning them into targets of terror attacks is disgraceful," a statement issued by the PA said.
Putting it mildly...
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Fatah, claimed responsibility for the shooting attack.
They're "linked" to Fatah, but apparently aren't paying any more attention to anything Yasser says than anybody else is...
The PA statement condemned the attack on Kibbutz Metzer, inside the Green Line, but added that at the same time Israeli tanks and helicopters were killing Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority offered its condolences to the families of the victims, and called on the Israeli public to take steps to stop the "Israeli war machine."
The "Israeli war machine" operates as it does because of things just like this. ("Cause? Effect? They're related?")
In private talks, Fatah officials condemned the attack. According to the officials, the Fatah organization has clear political guidelines that oppose terror attacks inside the Green Line. "There is no doubt it was a mistake," one of the officials said.
Thought they were in New Jersey, did they?
Last week the newly-appointed Interior Minister Hani al Hassan, who is in charge of the Palestinian security apparatus and Fatah, said that he objects to terror attacks inside the Green Line, but said he could understand attacks against Israeli occupation and the settlers.
"What's a few dead infidels? There's no other way to achieve our political goals than killing them, right?... Talks? Discussions? Negotiations?... Nah. That'd never work."
Arafat said Monday that the perpetrators of the attacks wanted to sabotage the dialogue taking place in Cairo between Fatah and Hamas in an attempt to stop suicide bombings inside Israel. Arafat said that he would establish a committee to examine whether the perpetrators of the attack were indeed Fatah members.
Establishing a committee is much more effective than arresting them and giving them one of those famous PA trials...