This Week

War On Terrorism

Targeted Killings

Tourism minister is laid to rest, but his murder in Jerusalem touches o renewed debate.

GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem
I srael finds itself in a bind after
the assassination of Tourism
Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
Not only do Israeli officials
have to come up with a credible
response to the slaying, they have to
contend with claims that the murder
of Ze'evi by Arab militants was little
different than Israel's policy of killing
Arab terror ringleaders before they can
carry out attacks against Israeli targets.
Israel launched the policy in
November 2000, two months after
the start of the Palestinian intifada
(uprising).
Israel has staunchly defended the
policy — which it refers to as "target-
ed preventive measures" — as one of
the few plausible responses to the cam-
paign of suicide bombings and drive-
by shootings that have marked the
Palestinian intifada.
Btu the policy has elicited repeated
criticism from the United States and a
host of other Western powers.
Last week, Israeli officials were aghast
after Denmark's foreign minister,
Mogens Lykketoft, equated the assassina-
tion of Ze'evi with Israel's targeted
killings of suspected Palestinian terrorists.
"Political murder in that area is not
anything new," Lykketoft said on
Danish television, adding that he does
not hold Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat responsible in
any way for Ze'evi's killing.
A senior Israeli official later called
Lykketoft, who has a history of incen-
diary statements about Israel, an anti-
Semite and "the most anti-Israel for-
eign minister in Europe."
Despite the international criticism,
few Israelis have come out against the
country's targeted killings of terrorists.
One exception is Gush Shalom —
Hebrew for the Peace Bloc — a group
led by former legislator and journalist
Uri Avnery.
"The system of assassinations and
`annihilations' must stop immediately
and totally," the group said in a state-
ment after Ze'evi's murder on Oct. 17.
"Whether the victim is Israeli or
Palestinian, the outcome is the same
— more tension, hatred and feelings

10/2(
2001

14

of vengeance, and widening the circle
of bloodshed."
The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, a radical group
that is part of the Palestine Liberation
Organization, claimed responsibility for
assassinating Ze'evi.
The group said it was avenging the
death of its leader, Mustafa Zibri,
who was killed in a pinpoint Israeli
rocket attack in late August. Israel
accused Zibri of masterminding a
string of bombings and terror attacks
inside Israel.
The killing of Zibri was "viewed by
the Palestinians as the slaying of a politi-
cal leader," said Riad Ali, an Israeli Arab
journalist who covers the Palestinian
Authority for Israel Television.
When Zibri was killed in August,
Israeli intelligence officials predicted the
PFLP might retaliate by trying to kill
Israeli political figures.
All of which prompts the question
of whether Israel's targeted killings are
an effective tool in its fight against ter-
rorism.
One cannot tell how many lives — if
any — were saved by killing Zibri.
There does, however, appear to be a
direct link between his killing and the
murder of Ze'evi — and to the deaths
that ensued after Israeli forces moved

into positions in six Palestinian West
Bank cities at the end of last week, fol-
lowing the assassination.
Israel moved into Bethlehem,
Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm and
Kalkilya, saying it intended to nab
Palestinian terrorists planning attacks
on Israelis.
It was Israel's biggest operation in
areas under Palestinian control since the
two sides signed their first interim peace
accords in 1993. Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon said the ground offensive would
end after he was satisfied that Palestinian
Authority leader Yasser Arafat had begun
cracking down on terrorists.
Meanwhile, the Israeli public appears
to support the targeted killings policy
A Dahaf opinion poll released over
the weekend — after Ze'evi's assassina-
tion — indicated that 62 percent of
Israeli respondents want to continue
the policy.
At the same time, 50 percent support
continued negotiations with the
Palestinians.
Similarly, another poll — this one
conducted by Gallup-Israel — showed
that 38 percent of Israeli respondents
want total war against the Palestinians.
In the same poll, however, another 38
percent said they want "to speed up"
negotiations with the Palestinians. El

The body of Israel's slain tourism
minister, Rehavam Ze'evi, lies in
state in Jerusalem on Oct. 18.

Israel Insight

THE ISSUE

The Israeli government has called
upon Yasser Arafat to arrest the
killers of Tourism Minister Rehavam
Ze'evi and extradite them to Israel. If
this is not done, Israel promises
major military and diplomatic moves
against the Palestinian Authority.

.

BEHIND THE ISSUE
Taking its cue from President Bush's

definition of the war against terror-
ism, the Israeli cabinet is calling on
Arafat to make his intentions clear. If
he refuses to extradite Ze'evi's killers
and ban terrorist groups operating in
the Palestinian Authority, he will be
viewed as a supporter of terrorism.
This may lead to a formal end to the
Oslo agreements, which were signed
by Israel following Arafat's 1993 dec-
laration forswearing terror as a tool
of Palestinian nationalism.

— Allan Gale, Jewish. Community
Council of letropolitan Detroit

