Israel Assassinates Another Resistance Activist And Defiantly Marks The Next 7 on its Hit List

09/04/2001| IslamWeb

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israel and the Palestinians on Sunday engaged in a tit-for-tat senario of revenge Killings. Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian activist in the northern West Bank, just hours after a Palestinian Resistance man sprayed occupation soldiers with automatic fire near the Israel War Ministry in Tel Aviv. At the same time, Israel has marked seven Palestinians on a most-wanted list that could herald more track-and-kill operations likely to strain relations with its guardian ally, the United States.In a new pressure tactic, the War Ministry said the seven men, from several Palestinian factions, ``continue to carry out attacks'' despite Israeli appeals to the Palestinian Authority to arrest them.
Israeli Channel Two television's military affairs reporter hinted the most-wanted list was effectively a hit list, saying the seven could get hurt in future (Israeli) attempts to foil what he called terrorist attacks.
Reading between the lines, an Israel Radio commentator said: ``If the Palestinian Authority does not round them up, it's clear what their fate will be -- although it doesn't say so in the statement.''
PALESTINIANS WANT JEWISH ACTIVISTS HELD
The Palestinian Authority, which, for its part, has presented U.S. mediators with a list of Jewish activists it wants Israel to detain, has refused to arrest suspects at Israel's command.
The Authority says it will take no action until Israel abides by a cease-fire brokered by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet in mid-June. Israel, in turn, accused the Palestinians of violating the threadbare truce.
The seven men on the list include three members of the militant Islamic Jihad group, one Hamas man, an activist from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two men from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Under their names, the War Ministry statement listed anti-Israeli attacks in which it alleged they took part. Palestinian sources said none of the men, aged between 22 and 33, was a senior leader.
Citing Israel's ``assassination policy,'' Amin al-Hindi, Palestinian intelligence chief for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, told Reuters on Sunday that the Palestinians two weeks ago suspended weekly U.S.-hosted security talks with Israel.
Israel has so far assassinated some 60 activists since an uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September after peace talks stalled.
At least 513 Palestinians, 131 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the start of the uprising.
In the latest of what Israel calls ``active self-defense'' operations, it killed a member of the militant Muslim group Hamas in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Sunday.
The assassinated activist - 20-year-old Amer Hudeiri of the Islamic Resistance group, Hamas - was hit by two missiles in his car in Tulkarm fired from an Israeli helicopter.
INTIFADH CONFRONTATIONS RAGE ON
After nightfall, Palestinian Resistance men shot at a car carrying a Jewish settler family in the West Bank, killing a woman passenger and wounding three other people in the vehicle.
Following the shooting, Israeli tanks shelled a headquarters of the Palestinian National Security forces in Qalqilya, the Palestinian city closest to the scene of the attack on the settlers. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Hours earlier, Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead a Palestinian, believed to be a policeman, in a separate incident near Tulkarm.
``Apparently he did not belong to any (Palestinian) organization,'' Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said. He then went on to accuse the Palestinian Authority of being behind what he called ``incitement'' that moved him to launch the attack.
In an interview with the U.S. Fox television network, a defiant Sharon said Israel would continue to take what he called ``defensive, counter-terrorist measures'' to protect its citizens.
Last Tuesday, an Israeli missile strike on the office of a senior Hamas official in the West Bank city of Nablus drew condemnation from Washington and other countries after eight Palestinians, including two children, were killed in the raid.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian Resistance activist in the northern West Bank, just hours after a Palestinian Resistance man sprayed occupation soldiers with automatic fire near the Israel War Ministry in Tel Aviv.