Palestinians attack Israeli car, injuring mother, girl

Israel rejected a proposal for a permanent cease-fire.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli car near Jerusalem, seriously wounding a mother and child, hours after Israel dismissed a Palestinian proposal to call a permanent cease-fire instead of disarming militant groups.
The attack happened late Sunday near an Israeli roadblock between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The military said the mother and a 9-year-old daughter were rushed to a hospital, and two other children were treated at the scene for cuts from broken glass.
In a phone call to The Associated Press, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Proposal rejected
The attack came just hours after Israel rejected a proposal by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath for a permanent cease-fire. The deal would have halted attacks against Israelis, and not required the Palestinian leadership to crack down on militant groups as mandated by a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
The shooting was the first Palestinian attack in the area since Israel turned Bethlehem back over to Palestinian security forces under terms of the peace plan, which calls on Israel to pull its forces out of Palestinian towns reoccupied during nearly three years of violence.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel would not hand over more towns to Palestinian control or consider releasing Palestinian prisoners until action was taken against Sunday's attackers. Shaath condemned the attack.
Palestinian is slain
In other Israeli-Palestinian violence early today, a Palestinian man was killed while planting an explosive device on a road used by Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli military sources said. The forces spotted the man just outside the village of Faron and opened fire, fatally wounding him.
The Al Aqsa brigades identified the man as one of its members, 26-year-old Nihad Qasan, and accused Israel of assassinating him.
The Palestinian cease-fire offer was made in a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, officials on both sides said, but Shalom turned it down.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas refuses to order a crackdown on the militants, fearing a civil war. He prefers a negotiated end to violence, like the current truce.
Shaath said he told Shalom that further Israeli withdrawals from West Bank towns and other steps to allow Palestinians freedom of movement between towns could make it possible for the Palestinian government to negotiate a permanent cease-fire with the militants.
"Their reaction was that they were insistent that this is not enough, and they were insistent on the Palestinians dismantling the militant infrastructure," Shaath told The Associated Press.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Shaath and Shalom discussed a permanent cease-fire, though the official said the Palestinians made an outright offer of a permanent truce. He said Shalom rejected the idea.
Main Palestinian groups called a temporary cease-fire on June 29. Since then, violence has dropped significantly, but Israel accuses the militants of using the truce to rearm and prepare for a new wave of attacks.
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