6) Israel Continues the Assassination of Leaders of the Uprising

The Israeli Occupation Forces continued their policy of targeting and killing the leaders and activists of the Palestinian Uprising, especially the military leaders, in the second year of the uprising. Those actions of killing are now being known as “extra-judicial killings.”

Despite numerous criticisms from local and international legal organizations regarding those crimes, even from some senior foreign politicians who strongly criticized the policy of assassination adopted and carried out by the Israeli government, Israel continued to target and kill Palestinians because of their national role in resisting the occupation. Israel classifies them as “wanted” person for security reasons, and so gives itself the right to end their lives, although this is the basic “number one” right for all human beings.

The policy of assassinations increased and escalated the level of violence and bloodshed in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Since Israel began this policy, all the Palestinian factions justified their attacks on Israeli targets (whether suicide bombings or opening fire) as responses to assassinations committed by the Israeli Forces.

 To see a detailed list of Palestinians who were assassinated during the second year of al-Aqsa Intifada ( 29.09.2001 - 28.09.2002) click here.

The Israeli public opinion shows strong support for the policy of assassination that is carried out by the Israeli government, despite the fact that it was proven that these assassinations lead to the further escalation of the conflict and more suicide bombing attacks from the Palestinian side. The Israeli security establishment boasts openly because they managed to “get rid of” some of the most dangerous Palestinian leaders, as announced by the Israeli government in Yediot Aharonot newspaper on 24/7/2002. These men were: Mahmoud Abu-Hannoud, Abu-Ali Mustafa, Salah Shihadeh, Dr. Thabet Thabet, Omar Sa’adeh, Jamal Mansour, Salah Obeyat, ‘Atef Obeyat, Ra’ed al-Karmi, Jamal Abdel-Razeq and Mas’oud Ayyad.

The Israeli Security Forces have used the method of bombing cars with explosives to kill the leaders of the Uprising. Some of the assassination operations that caused immediate anger among the Palestinians were:

-         The killing of ‘Atef Obeyat, leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Bethlehem area on 24/10/2001.

-         The killing of Mahmoud Abu-Hannoud, leader of al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank on 23/11/2001.

-         The killing of Ra’ed al-Karmi, leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarem area on 14/1/2002.

-         The killing of Salah Shihadeh, leader of al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, on 23/7/2002.

The assassination of Salah Shihadeh, by F-16 American-made air fighters that bombarded a housing compound in al-Daraj civilian neighborhood in Gaza City, which also killed 15 other Palestinian civilians, among them 9 children, caused a wave of protests that condemned this Israeli action.

Strong critics addressed the Israeli government for the killing of Ra’ed al-Karmi in February 2002, after a period of relative calm in the region. The Israeli journalist Dani Robinstein wrote an article in Ha’aretz on 21/1/2002 in which he criticized the killing of Ra’ed al-Karmi:

“The liquidation of Ra’ed al-Karmi has immediately cost Israel ten lives of innocent people who were killed in bloody attacks the following week. Individuals who carried out those attacks announced they did so to take revenge for al-Karmi. In fact, one of them, Abdel-Salam Hassouneh from the village of Beit-Omrein, who carried out the attack in Khadira inside Israel, was a close friend of Ra’ed al-Karmi.”

The Israeli journalist Robinstein also said: “The Palestinians plan to carry out revenge attacks that cost dozens of Israeli lives. That isn’t new. Since the assassination of Hamas man Yehia Ayyash, the engineer, and the assassination of Fathi al-Shiqaqi in Malta, all those assassinations only led to revenge attacks. In every neighborhood or corner in the West Bank and Gaza, cells are formed carrying names of a local hero who was killed (by Israel) and they all announce they will take revenge. Does this mean that the Israeli security establishment will assassinate all the Palestinian men?”

On 29/1/2002, the Israeli High Court refused a petition presented by Arab member of Knesset Mohammed Barakeh, who demanded the Israeli government stop its policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. Radio Israel reported on the same day that three such petitions were refused on the same subject.