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Israel Threatens to Assassinate Militants

Posted on: Saturday, 23 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

Israel and the Palestinians stood before a new spiral of violence Saturday after Israel ordered the killing of Islamic militants already vowing bloody revenge for the death of a top Hamas official in an Israeli air strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the targeted killing of Hamas leaders after a suicide bomber killed 20 people on a Jerusalem bus Tuesday, casting fresh doubt over a U.S.-backed peace plan that calls for Palestinian authorities to clamp down on the militants.

The decision to kill leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad was made in a meeting of Israel's security Cabinet earlier this week in response to the Hamas bus attack, security officials said. "As far as we are concerned, anyone who is in the Hamas leadership is a fair target," one official said on condition of anonymity.

The bus bombing hardened the mood in Israel because it struck families returning from prayer at Jerusalem's Western Wall. Six children died and dozens more injured in one of the deadliest-ever suicide attacks.

Israel has killed dozens of Palestinian terror suspects in targeted operations during the past three years of fighting. That failed to halt the bombers, but Israel says it has no choice after Abbas failed to act against the armed groups.

President Bush said Friday the U.S. Treasury had frozen assets of Hamas leaders and five European-based organizations to cut off funding for a group "committed to violence against Israelis and to undermining progress toward peace."

But the White House reacted cautiously to the threatened Israeli campaign.

"We've always said that Israel has the right to defend herself," said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan. But both sides "need to keep in mind the consequence of the actions that they take."

"Our focus is on getting the parties back together so they can work to resolve these issues," McClellan said.

Israeli forces continued a stepped-up sweep for militants and weapons in the West Bank Friday, killing a suspected fugitive in a shootout at a hospital in the city of Nablus.

Patrolling troops spotted three wanted men hiding on the roof of the hospital. Haled Namrouti, 26, a follower of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, was killed, militiamen said. The other two fighters were wounded.

The Israeli military said Namrouti was involved in an Aug. 12 suicide bombing that killed an Israeli man in a supermarket in central Israel, a charge confirmed by Al Aqsa members.

Tanks were also reported to be gathering under cover of darkness near Gaza after rockets and mortars were fired into Israel and Jewish settlements in Gaza on Friday. Three houses were damaged but no injuries were reported.

Hamas, meanwhile, vowed to avenge the rocket strike on Thursday that killed Ismail Abu Shanab, one of its most senior figures. At his funeral in Gaza City Friday, the group's defiant leaders said they did not fear death and that others were ready to take over.

"They think that targeting leaders will stop Jihad (holy war). They are mistaken," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survived an Israeli rocket attack on his car in June. "All of us in Hamas from top to bottom are looking to become like Abu Shanab."

Israeli officials said a sustained military onslaught in the Palestinian areas could still be avoided if Abbas, who has yet to respond to the latest escalation, moves decisively to disarm and jail militants.

"Israel hasn't closed the door on the road map," Israeli government spokesman Dore Gold said. "But there are really two possibilities: either the Palestinian Authority will begin to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure - or Israel will."

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