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BETHLEHEM,West Bank-Israeli forces killed four Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, hours after the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers demanded a halt to all Israeli "aggression" as a condition for a ceasefire.A source in Islamic Jihad, which lost three members, including a local leader, in the Bethlehem raid, vowed revenge and charged: "The Zionist enemy has no interest in calm." Islamic Jihad is among militant groups that powerbroker Egypt had hoped to coax into holding rocket fire from Gaza in a bid to bolster U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.As part of any ceasefire, Islamist Hamas-which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas's forces there-is demanding a say in the future functioning of the coastal territory's border crossings, a condition rejected by Israel."There must be a commitment by Israel to end all acts of aggression against our people, assassinations, killings and raids, and lift the (Gaza) siege and reopen the crossings," Ismail Haniyeh,(picture above) leader of Hamas's administration in Gaza, said in a speech.A truce, he said, should be "reciprocal, comprehensive and simultaneous", apply both to Gaza and the West Bank-territories where Palestinians seek statehood-and be approved by other factions."We will not abandon you, our people in the West Bank," Haniyeh said. "Aggression against you is aggression against us."Hamas had previously been vague about whether it would insist on including the West Bank in any Gaza truce.As in the days of Noah....
