For ambush, Israelis ruin Palestinian homes

Palestinian vandals desecrated Commonwealth military graves.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli troops demolished 13 Palestinian homes along a Gaza road today, after Palestinian gunmen ambushed Jewish settlers there during an outdoor memorial service at the spot where an Israeli family was killed last week.
No Israelis were injured in Sunday's attack, but automatic fire kept dozens of settlers, including terrified toddlers, pinned to the ground for 20 minutes. Many crouched behind cars during the battle, before racing to nearby armored buses.
One Israeli man shielded his screaming 4-year-old daughter on the ground. An armored personnel carrier drove along the side of the road, kicking up large clouds of dust that engulfed the settlers and made it harder for gunmen to take aim.
Israeli soldiers killed at least one gunman, and were searching the area for the body of the second gunman. The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Houses flattened
Israeli bulldozers flattened 12 one-story houses today along the road, which links Israeli settlements in Gaza with Israel and is heavily guarded. A four-story apartment building was also blown up by troops, Palestinian officials said.
In all, about 75 Palestinians were left homeless, all members of the same clan.
"They left nothing for us," said Yousef Abu Hadaf, one of the homeowners. "The bulldozers are uprooting trees, demolishing our houses."
The Israeli military said the houses were torn down because they had served as cover for the gunmen.
Several dozen settlers had attended Sunday's roadside memorial service for Tali Hatuel and her four daughters, ages 2 to 11. Hatuel and her children were killed in a roadside ambush last week, as they drove from Gaza to Israel to campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all Gaza settlements.
Grave vandals
Meanwhile, Palestinian vandals with axes and shovels desecrated or destroyed 32 graves in a Commonwealth military cemetery in Gaza City. Photographs of U.S. and British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners were stuck to some of the tombstones. "We will take revenge," was written on one tombstone.
The vandals also uprooted flowers.
The British consulate in Jerusalem said it was aware of the incident and was investigating.
About 3,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed in World War I, including those from Britain and India, are buried in the plot in Gaza City.
"Our religion as Muslims and our tradition as Palestinians forbid such acts," said Issam Jaradeh, a caretaker at the cemetery.
Reports of abuse in American-run prisons in Iraq has reverberated throughout the Arab world, and has further intensified anti-Western sentiment stoked by the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
Sharon cancels trip
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, canceled a trip to the United States, saying he intended to focus his energies on putting together a new plan for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after his party rejected his original plan.
Sharon told his Cabinet ministers during a stormy meeting Sunday that he will present a revised version of his "disengagement plan" in the next three weeks. He did not reveal what changes he is contemplating or how he would satisfy his deeply divided coalition.
The announcement was the latest sign of Sharon's determination to push ahead with his plan after its overwhelming defeat in a May 2 referendum of Likud Party members. That vote, though nonbinding, would make it difficult for many Likud Cabinet ministers to support the plan.
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