Defiant Israel nominates hit-list

JERUSALEM - 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.

It published the roster on a heavy day of violence yesterday that included a Palestinian attack on the doorstep of Israel's Defence Ministry, an Israeli helicopter missile strike that killed a Muslim militant and two deadly West Bank shootings.

In a new pressure tactic, the Defence 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 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."

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of assassinating around 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-defence" operations, it killed a member of the militant Muslim group Hamas in the West Bank city of Tulkarm yesterday. Palestinian witnesses said two missiles hit his car.

The Israeli Army said the man it killed, Amer al-Hadri , 23, had been preparing suicide attacks against Israelis. Hamas said he was a bodyguard for its local representative in Tulkarm.

After dark, Palestinian gunmen 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, said a spokesman for the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements.

After 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. No casualties were reported.

Hours earlier, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian, believed to be a policeman, in a separate incident near Tulkarm while he and an accomplice were planting a roadside bomb, the Army said. The second man escaped.

In Tel Aviv, a Palestinian from Jerusalem armed with an assault rifle stepped from his car and sprayed bullets at soldiers on their lunch hour outside a compound housing the Defence Ministry and Army general staff headquarters.

Ali al-Julan was shot by a policeman as he tried to drive away and later died in hospital. The 10 people he shot - eight soldiers and two civilians - were not seriously hurt.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said last night that security forces had pre-empted a Palestinian suicide bomber's attack in Tel Aviv. "We arrested a terrorist as he was about to carry out a suicide attack in Tel Aviv and had already written his suicide note."

In an interview with the US Fox television network, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would continue to take "defensive, counter-terrorist measures" to protect its citizens.

The Palestinian Authority, which has given US mediators a list of "Jewish militants" it wants Israel to detain, has refused to arrest suspects at Israel's behest.

- REUTERS

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