Israelis applaud death of key Hamas figure

Hamas militant Muhanad Taher, 26, who headed Israel's most-wanted list, was killed Sunday in the West Bank.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli leaders Monday hailed the killing of a Hamas bomb mastermind suspected of involvement in the deaths of more than 100 Israelis.

A spokesman for Hamas vowed revenge for the death of Muhanad Taher, 26, who headed Israel's most-wanted list. He was killed Sunday at a house in the West Bank town of Nablus, where he was staying with another Hamas activist.

Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Taher's killing was the most important Israeli military achievement in two months.

IN-DEPTH  CNN NewsPass Video    •  Palestinian politics  MORE STORIES   •  IDF: Arms workshops destroyed in Rafah  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Gallery: Palestinian fatalities  RESOURCES   •  Victims of terror   •  TIME.com: Orchestrating a common ground

"Congratulations and very great pride over what IDF soldiers [did] Sunday ...," Ben-Eliezer said. "We are speaking of a killer, a planner, an 'engineer,' who caused more than 117 Israelis to be murdered."

The defense minister said Taher was unique among Palestinian bomb makers.

"There was no terror attack in the last three months -- from the hotel in Netanya [where 29 people were killed in a Passover bombing] to the Patt Road bombing [where 19 Israelis died in a bus explosion last month], including all the restaurants -- in which his hand did not play a part," Ben-Eliezer said.

Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab said Taher's killing was a "dirty crime" and vowed, "Our people cannot forget the blood of their heroes and their people killed."

Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.

Unemployed Palestinians protest in Gaza

In Gaza on Monday, thousands of unemployed workers who once had jobs in Israel staged a rally, marching to the seaside compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The workers protested Israel's closing of the borders -- which has blocked them from their jobs -- and alleged corruption by Palestinian Authority leaders.

One worker, Raafat Jarhoum, sounded a theme expressed by many demonstrators when he accused Palestinian officials of siphoning off cash.

"They sent the money to their kids in Switzerland and France so they can become engineers and doctors," Jarhoum said. "Our kids haven't got two shekels to get from our homes to the university."

The protesters carried banners demanding jobs, not handouts from the Palestinian Authority. More than 100,000 Palestinian workers had jobs in Israel before the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000.

Defense minister: More settlements will be removed

Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer says that all illegal Jewish settlements will be evacuated.

Elsewhere, Ben-Eliezer said the Israeli military will evacuate 34 illegal Jewish settlements. His comments came after the Yesha settlement council evacuated 11 illegal settler outposts in the West Bank on the weekend.

Ben-Eliezer said all illegal settlements will be evacuated, by force if necessary, because trying to protect them "loads down the IDF with unnecessary burdens." Many of the settlements are in remote areas, and the Israel Defense Forces must protect settlers from attacks.

On the diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that Israel faces an "opportunity of the first order" to make progress toward peace because of U.S. President Bush's speech last week on the Middle East.

However, Sharon rejected Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' request to renew contacts with senior Palestinians, including Arafat.

The Israeli leader gave no details on the diplomatic efforts he envisions.

"At the moment we are in close touch with the United States," Sharon said. "We are certainly progressing on this matter, both in the sphere of economic and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians -- on which I gave very clear orders to the defense establishment last week over how to ease [restrictions] -- and, of course, we are progressing from the diplomatic standpoint."

Criticizing Sharon in an interview on Army Radio, Ben-Eliezer said the prime minister has an obligation to allow Peres to pursue peace by talking with the Palestinians.

In his speech, Bush presented his framework for Middle East peace. It included a call for new Palestinian leadership without mentioning Arafat by name.

In another development, the IDF said Sunday it had lifted curfews on all West Bank cities to allow Palestinians to buy food and other necessities.