http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010221/wl/israel_targeted_killings_1.html
Human Rights Group Condemns Israel
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer,
Wednesday February 21 1:21 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's targeted killings of Palestinians suspected
of attacks on Israelis are part of a ``policy of state
assassinations,'' the human rights groups Amnesty International said
in a report released Wednesday.
The group demanded that Israel stop the practice and asked the United
States to review its weapons sales to Israel as a result of it.
The report said Amnesty field workers investigated several cases in
which Israeli forces targeted and killed Palestinian leaders, and
concluded that the killings were illegal and unnecessary. The report
called the killings a ``policy of state assassination.''
Amnesty International, the London-based group that won the 1977 Nobel
Peace Prize for its human rights advocacy, called on the United States
to examine ``all arms transfers to Israel'' and provide guarantees
that the weapons ``are not used to violate human rights.''
``There is a clear cause for concern that U.S. made weapons are being
used in attacks on Palestinians, since the U.S. is the major supplier
of arms to Israel,'' said Curt Goering, deputy executive director of
Amnesty International USA, which issued Wednesday's report.
Palestinians say Israel has targeted and killed at least a dozen local
Palestinian leaders since the current round of unrest erupted almost
five months ago. Israel has acknowledged some of the cases and refused
comment on others.
Indicating that there is a policy of targeted killing, Israeli
officials have said repeatedly that Israeli forces have permission to
hit Palestinians who have attacked Israelis or are planning attacks.
Goering said the killings should not have taken place. ``Our
researchers determined that some of those killed could and should have
been arrested instead,'' he said in a statement.
The most recent incident of an apparent targeted killing was Monday,
when Mahmoud Madani, 25, a local leader of the militant Hamas group,
was gunned down in a refugee camp next to Nablus. Palestinians said
Israeli special forces were responsible.
The Israeli military did not comment on the killing, but Israeli
security officials said he was involved in two recent bomb attacks in
Israel that killed two people and injured more than 100.
On Feb. 13, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car in the
Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian security officer Israel claimed had
ordered mortar attacks on a Jewish settlement.
The officer, Massoud Ayyad, 54, was a member of Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 unit. Israel said he was also
affiliated with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
Last month, the widow of a Palestinian activist who was gunned down
outside his West Bank home appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to
order Israeli security forces to end its assassinations policy.
Siham Thabet, wife of Thabet Thabet, a local leader in Arafat's Fatah
organization, said her husband's killing was unjustified since he was
unarmed.
In an opinion to the court on Feb. 11, Attorney General Elyakim
Rubinstein said that the assassination policy is part of war and is
legal according to international law.
Goering called on Israel to investigate killings by its security
services, warning that otherwise, Israeli soldiers could conclude that
they are above the law, ``fueling a cycle of violence and revenge in
the region.''
