Truce ends after killing of Hamas leader
<as if any truce really existed after the recent suicide bombing _Ike>
By Harvey Morris and Sharmila Devi in Jerusalem
Published: August 21 2003 18:40 | Last Updated: August 22 2003 1:01
Hamas called off an eight- week-old ceasefire on Thursday after Israeli forces assassinated a senior leader of the Islamic militant group, plunging the fragile US-backed peace process into the worst crisis since it was launched in June.
The smaller Islamic Jihad also announced it was abandoning the three-month truce declared on June 29.
Ismail Abu Shanab, a founder of Hamas and one of its top three political leaders, was killed with two bodyguards when Israeli helicopters fired five missiles at his car in a busy Gaza street. Witnesses said women, children and construction workers at a nearby site were among dozens injured.
The Israeli strike, the first assassination operation since the start of the ceasefire, came hours after Israel's security cabinet approved military action in response to Tuesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem in which a Hamas suicide bomber killed 20 people.
The government of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, under intense Israeli and US pressure to launch a crackdown on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, also met on Wednesday to discuss security measures. A Palestinian spokesman said Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian president, had approved action against the militants.
"Hamas and Jihad broke the rules and we will eliminate their weapons storehouses and the terror infrastructure," Elias Zananiri, spokesman for Mohamed Dahlan, the Palestinian security chief, told Israel Radio. Later, however, he said the PA would have to reassess its decision in the light of the Gaza assassination.
Mr Abbas said the killing of Abu Shanab was an "ugly crime" which was "against the peace process".
The latest violence came as Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, warned both sides against abandoning the current peace process. He called on Mr Arafat and Mr Abbas to use the security forces at their disposal to end attacks against Israel and added: "At the end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off."
The Israeli government on Thursday defended the killing of Abu Shanab, described in a statement from the office of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, as a senior Hamas terrorist who supported a violent campaign against Israeli targets.
It was the first time that Israeli forces had successfully targeted a political leader of the movement. In mid-June, another Hamas political leader, Abdelaziz Rantisi, escaped with injuries from a missile strike that delayed Mr Abbas's efforts to secure a ceasefire.
"Israel does not differentiate between political and military leaders," said Gideon Meir, a foreign ministry official. "We regard them as all the same."
Israeli officials were angered by Mr Abbas's decision to seek Mr Arafat's approval for action against the militants. Israel has ostracised the Palestinian president for more than a year and holds him responsible for encouraging violence.
The Israeli army launched raids into the West Bank on Wednesday night, and again on Thursday night, in pursuit of militants in areas still under their control. Nablus was placed under curfew, tanks moved into Jenin and a 17-year-old Hamas militant was arrested in Tubas.
Abu Shanab was killed in Gaza City, which is under Palestinian Authority control. The 53-year-old engineering lecturer lived openly, teaching at the city's Islamic University.
A soft-spoken man who studied at Colorado State University, he served as the "moderate" face of Hamas, contrasting with the more intemperate Mr Rantisi. He was understood to be among the key supporters of the three-month ceasefire.
Thursday's Israeli statement noted that he had been imprisoned for the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli soldier and said he was responsible for directing military operations.
Abu Shanab appeared to have taken no special security measures. He said in June: "Anybody can see what I'm doing. This is my house and it's open for everybody. I go to work at the university. I say my ideas publicly." |
