Karbala shows why few want the burden

Militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas issued a statement today formally ending their seven-week-old truce because of an Israeli air strike that killed a top militant leader. The statement blamed Israeli PM Ariel Sharon for wrecking the truce.

‘‘We announced our initiative on June 29 and we announce together today that Sharon is ending the ceasefire,’’ it said. Hamas called the bombing a revenge attack for Israel’s killing of its leaders, saying it did not affect the June 29 unilateral truce.

But after the death of Abu Shanab, considered second in Hamas only to spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, militant groups vowed to unleash violence anew. ‘‘We urge all our fighters in Palestine to strike in every corner of the Jewish state,’’ said a statement by Hamas, which like Islamic Jihad is sworn to Israel’s destruction.

Israeli forces have flooded Hebron and other West Bank militant bastions, conducting searches for weapons and roundups. The Gaza Strip, which is densely populated and fenced-off from Israel, has not been subject to broad ground operations. That could now change, the Israeli security source said. ‘‘We are not ruling out major action in Gaza,’’ he said. He named Rafah, a town straddling the Gaza-Egypt border and favoured by Palestinian gunrunners, as a likely target.

Faced with the prospect that the peace roadmap could fold under the weight of new violence, US Secretary of State Colin Powell turned for help on Thursday to Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian President whom Washington has sidelined and is a pariah to the Israelis.

Meanwhile in Washington, President George W. Bush announced a freeze on the assets of six Hamas leaders and five organisations accused of supporting the group. Bush said that he ordered the US Treasury Department to act in the wake of Tuesday’s suicide bombing.