Gunmen Kill 5 Settlers During Gaza Pullout Vote

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Gunmen killed five Jewish settlers in Gaza Sunday as members of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's party voted on his controversial U.S.-backed plan to withdraw from the territory.

President Bush provided unprecedented guarantees to the plan for "disengagement" from conflict with Palestinians. But settlers in Gaza mounted a strong "no" campaign saying that pulling out would be a "reward to terror."

Polls in the run-up to the vote predicted defeat in what would be an embarrassing blow to the historic move and Sunday's killing of settlers could harden the "no" sentiment.

A Gaza settler spokesman said Palestinian militants killed a mother and four children on an access road to a Jewish enclave -- the first settlers to be killed in Gaza in more than a year.

Israel Radio said the two gunmen were shot dead by Israeli troops shortly afterward. Two Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the killings in a telephone call to Reuters.

~snip~
more:http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5008532