JERUSALEM, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A West Bank settler who shot dead four Palestinians in a West Bank settlement said Thursday he had no regrets and hoped someone kills Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, local newspaper Haaretz reported on its online edition.

    Asher Weissgan, a 38-year-old driver, on Wednesday killed four Palestinians with whom he worked and wounded two others, one of them seriously, in the industrial area of the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, about 20 km northeast of Ramallah.

    "I'm not sorry for what I did," said Weissgan. "I hope someone also kills Sharon."

    Sharon condemned the "exceptionally grave Jewish act of terror" and instructed the security establishment to deal harshly with all attempts to harm innocent people.

    The Palestinian Authority (PA) Wednesday issued a statement blaming Israel for not doing enough to prevent the attack. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas urged Palestinians not to respond to the attack.

    This is the second attack by an Israeli Jew on Arabs in August.

    On Aug. 4, an Israel Defense Forces soldier who had deserted from the army to protest the Gaza pullout opened fire inside a bus in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram, killing four Israeli Arabs.

    Neither attacks came as a complete surprise to police or the Shin Bet (National Security Service). In recent months, the security establishment has received numerous warnings of possible attacks by extremist Jews against the Palestinians in an attempt to incite disorder in the territories and block the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

    Israeli army and police began formal implementation of the disengagement plan Monday morning. According to the plan, Israel will remove all Gaza settlements and four settlements in the northern West Bank. Enditem