Rabbi shot dead in revenge for Gaza raid

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday July 26, 2002 17:12 by Pat C - Victory to the Palestinian Resistance

Palestinian Resistance fighters execute colonist leader

A rabbi was shot dead in the West Bank Thursday in what Palestinian militants said was the first retaliation for the devastating bombing raid on Gaza City earlier this week.

Rabbi shot dead in revenge for Gaza raid

A rabbi was shot dead in the West Bank Thursday in what Palestinian militants said was the first retaliation for the devastating bombing raid on Gaza City earlier this week.

Colonist Rabbi Elimelech Shapira, 43, was killed early in the morning in a daring ambush near the West Bank settlement of Alei Zahav when Palestinian commandos opened fire on his car. They shot the notorious settler leader before he could go for his gun.

All of the active sevice unit returned safely to their base.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack after warning that it would avenge the death of 17 Palestinians including Salah Shehada, the leader of the Hamas terrorist group's military wing.