Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal on Monday called for an Arab and Muslim alliance to defeat the United States and Israel. "Our battle is with two sides, one of them is the strongest power in the world, the United States, and the second is the strongest power in the region (Israel)," he told hundreds of people at the al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus. "That is the caliber of the battle. We will not be victorious unless the other side of the battle is Arab and Muslim. All of the Arabs and Muslims," he said at a memorial ceremony for Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, the group's Gaza leader assassinated by Israel on Saturday. Meshaal, who survived a 1997 Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan, vowed Hamas would avenge the killing of Rantissi and the group's spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on March 22. The Hamas politburo chief vowed Palestinians would "turn Earth on their heads, God willing." The Israelis live "in horror...ahead of our response, during it and after it," he said. "Do not worry, there will be a response and resistance will continue, God willing." He urged the leaders of 22 Arab states and more than 30 non-Arab Muslim countries to "make an alliance, even a temporary one...to combine capabilities against the enemy." "The problem is in us and not in the balance of power...if the (Islamic) nation would fight the same way (Palestinians and Iraqis) are fighting in Rafah, Jenin and Falluja then by God we will defeat both the United States and Israel," he said. Arab and Muslim people "have a great duty and I do not want to tell them what to do... God will ask Arabs and Muslims what are they doing while the sons of Palestine are doing their duties," he said. Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, envisages having Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a Palestinian state. It rejects the U.S.-sponsored "road map" peace plan which calls for establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel by 2005. Meshaal told Reuters last Wednesday President Bush "fired a fatal bullet at the road map and at any other settlement plan" when he approved Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral moves. While endorsing Sharon's unilateral Gaza pullout plan, Bush also offered backing for Israel to retain parts of the occupied West Bank and a negation of any right of return of Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 to their homes in what is now Israel. Meshaal urged Arab leaders, who are expected to hold a summit meeting in Tunisia in May, "to declare the death of the so-called peace process." **Palestinians Shot Dead in West Bank, Jewish Settlers Wounded in Rocket Attack*** A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire south of the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday night. The man was not armed and was not carrying identifying papers. Also Monday night, seven settlers were lightly wounded when a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinians hit a residential building in the Gaza Strip settlement of Nisanit, Israel Radio reported. Earlier, another settler was wounded when a home-made Qassam rocket hit Nisanit. The Israeli was moderately wounded when one rocket hit a house in the settlement. Several rockets, anti-tank missiles and mortar shells were fired at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip overnight but the Nisanit attack was the only one that caused casualties, the army said, according to The AP. On Sunday night, one Israeli-Arab was killed and another suffered moderate injured during an exchange of fire with Israel's Border Patrol policemen near the "Beit Rimon" Junction in the Lower Galilee. According to Israeli reports, the two men opened fire on a Border Police vehicle near the junction at around 10 P.M. (local time). Policemen returned fire and injured the two men. One of them later died of his wounds. In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot and critically wounded a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in a clash between stone throwers and soldiers. In another development, a 24-year-old Palestinian died Sunday of wounds received in clashes during a demonstration against the security barrier Israel is building, hospital officials said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Khaled Meshaal attends a memorial ceremony for the former Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Yarmouk near Damascus April 19, 2004. (REUTERS)