Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz on Tuesday said that the Lebanese Hizbollah movement was trying to infiltrate Israel and the Occupied Territories in an effort to “set up terror cells.”
In a meeting with journalists at the end of his trip, Mofaz also said that there was a rise in the power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, according to Haaretz newspaper.
Mofaz added that the “growing number of attacks indicated that the level of violence was returning to what it was before the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect two weeks ago.”
If the situation worsened, Mofaz said, there would have to be a re-evaluation, although he insisted every step would have to be carefully considered so as not to spark further escalation.
Meanwhile, Mofaz said that the “issue of targeting Palestinian militants" had not been raised during his visit, but he insisted that Israel reserved the right to "defend" itself.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Monday criticized Israel’s policy of what he called "targeted killings."
Three Palestinian activists were killed Sunday when an Israeli helicopter targeted their car in the West Bank.
Mofaz, who returned Tuesday to Israel, met with Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, CIA director George Tenet and the heads of the US ground and air forces, said the paper.
Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict last September, 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
