Israel on Monday said it ordered the assassination of three Palestinians overnight near the West Bank city of Jenin, in an attack which signaled a return to Israel's policy of "liquidating" Palestinian activists.
Israeli security officials said that despite Palestinian reports that the three were Islamic Jihad activists, the most senior of the three, Mohammad Ahmed Bashirat, was a member of Hamas, according to Haaretz newspaper.
Bashirat was described as “one of the most dangerous militants in the West Bank, and was reportedly involved in terror attacks in Hadera, Netanya, and in the Jordan Rift.”
Sameh Nur Dhiab, also killed in the attack, was a member of the Palestinian Authority naval force and was an expert in preparing bombs.
The officials said the helicopter attack prevented a "certain terrorist attack" within Israel, and that the car had allegedly been loaded with explosives.
Palestinian sources said the three were hit close to 11:00 pm, while driving in a car near the village of Qabatya, south of Jenin. The sources said the car was struck by a helicopter-fired missile.
Witnesses said Apache helicopters carried out the attack, and may have fired as many as 10 missiles.
The operation clearly represented a resumption of Israel's assassinations of Palestinians activists in the Occupied Territories.
The operations were largely stopped following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's declaration of a limited unilateral ceasefire at the end of May. Last week, Fateh activist Osama Jabara was killed by the explosion of a telephone booth widely believed to have been booby-trapped at Israel's order.
Senior officials in Jerusalem said “the liquidation of the three wanted men was carried out according to a decision of the security cabinet 10 days ago.”
Islamic Jihad spokesman Nafez Azam condemned the operation as an "ugly crime," according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.
He hinted at retaliation, saying that the organization "will not forget the blood of its martyrs."
Also, a spokesman for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said that "Israel's assassination policy will lead to the collapse of the ceasefire."
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is bracing for an immediate, sharp escalation in incidents in the Occupied Territories in response to the assassination.
The Israelis and Palestinians are, in theory, maintaining a US-brokered ceasefire which came into effect on June 13.
Nabil Abu Roudeinah, an advisor to Arafat, told journalists that "if Israel follows a policy of assassinating Palestinian militants it will compromise the ceasefire."
In another development, a roadside bomb was detonated near an Israeli army force north of Bethlehem, Army Radio reported, cited by Haaretz.
There were no injuries in the incident, it said.
Since the outbreak last September of the Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation, CNN reports that Palestinians have killed over 112 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to CNN, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and over 458 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s.
According to Amnesty International, nearly 100 of the Palestinians killed were children.
In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded, and over 520 killed.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
