Posted on 09/27/2002 11:19:07 AM PDT by RCW2001
KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 27, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/09/27/international1405EDT0651.DTL
(09-27) 11:05 PDT JERUSALEM (AP) --
When Israeli helicopter gunships zeroed in on the chief Hamas bomb maker, he was stuck in traffic in Gaza City's most crowded neighborhood at a time when students were pouring out of two nearby elementary schools.
Despite the clear risk to civilians, the pilots slammed two missiles into Mohammed Deif's Mercedes. The tally: two dead bodyguards and 35 wounded bystanders, including 15 children. Deif, wanted by Israel for more than a decade, escaped with moderate injuries.
Israel's desire to settle scores and deter militants often appears to override concern for Palestinian civilians. In the past two years, 52 innocents have been killed along with 78 wanted Palestinians in what the Israeli government calls "targeted killings."
The practice has been widely criticized. In an unusually blunt statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan deplored the attack on Deif, suggesting it violated international law by endangering civilians.
The United States, which initially condemned the targeted killings, has softened its position since the terror attacks on New York and Washington. U.S. officials now say they respect Israel's right to defend itself, but take it to task for actions in which civilians are killed.
In Israel, criticism is growing louder.
Some argue against endangering innocents. "A proper country simply does not do these things," opposition leader Yossi Sarid said Friday.
Others say killing terrorists is ineffective, since they are usually replaced quickly, and also counterproductive: In 1996, Hamas killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks to avenge Israel's assassination of Deif's mentor, Yehiyeh Ayyash.
But such concerns have often been brushed aside because of Israel's overriding conviction that those who attack its citizens -- or Jews anywhere, for that matter -- must not get away with it.
That doctrine was behind the kidnapping, trial and execution of Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann in the early 1960s and the systematic killing of Palestinians who took Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Deif, 37, a master of disguise who has eluded Israel for more than a decade, was a tempting target. An expert bomb maker who was responsible for scores of suicide bombings, he has become a Palestinian legend, a symbol of resistance.
"Even if he (Deif) were now a pensioner and no longer a `ticking bomb,' he would still be worth killing," Fishman wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily. "Israel has hunted him down in order to prove that even years later, there is no mercy for murdering Jews. This was true in Munich and it is true now in Gaza."
An Israeli Cabinet minister maintains the determination to kill Deif was tempered by some concern about civilian casualties.
Sports Minister Matan Vilnai, a former deputy military chief of staff, said Deif could have been eliminated with great certainty had the air force dropped a large bomb instead of firing two laser-guided rockets.
"That would have killed him without a doubt, along with dozens of people around him," Vilnai said. "I'm convinced -- though I wasn't there -- that the security forces considered such an option and ruled it out."
There was widespread criticism in July when an F-16 fighter plane unloaded a one-ton bomb on another Gaza City neighborhood, killing Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh, an aide and 13 civilians, including nine children.
At the time, the Israeli air force commander, Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz, said the bombing was "militarily and morally" correct, despite the civilian casualties, because Shehadeh was suspected of planning a huge attack on Israel.
Among relatives of Deif's victims, there was disagreement over the wisdom of retribution.
Yitzhak Frankenthal, whose son Arik was kidnapped and killed by Hamas in 1994, said killing Deif would not bring back his son and would only lead to more bloodshed. But Yehudit Shahor, whose son Uri was bludgeoned to death in the West Bank in 1995, said "it's important that everyone knows that this is the end that meets all those who try to attack us."
Deif had been under Israeli surveillance ever since he took over from Shehadeh as Hamas military chief. Israeli news reports said the Israeli army chief and the air force commander gave the go-ahead for the strike.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. Thursday, two Israeli helicopters were flying over Sheik Radwan, the most densely populated neighborhood in Gaza City and a Hamas stronghold. Below, Deif was traveling in a two-car convey through Al Jalla Street, where traffic was backed up by road construction. Nearby, two schools were letting out students.
Thirteen-year-old Mohammed Hassan was walking home with friends when the first missile hit. "The only thing I can remember is that a very hot thing hit my back and legs," said Hassan, who was struck by shrapnel. "I collapsed on the street and woke up after that in the hospital."
Vilnai, the Israeli Cabinet minister, said Israel often fails to live up to its promise to spare civilians as much as possible. "We need to recognize that in our long history of fighting terrorism, we have many times harmed people we weren't trying to harm," he said.
"In some cases, our finger was too quick on the trigger."
©2002 Associated Press
The virtuous, loving Pallies never go after Israeli civilians.
Of course, the attacker should still seek to minimise damage to non-combatants, but their safety should not be his prime concern.
And what about the hundreds of innocent Israelis killed by the Palesterrorists?
You forgot the BARF ALERT.
Eventually, the civilians will get the idea that hanging around mass murderers MIGHT be hazardous to their health.
I think a more relevant figure might be the number of dead civilians inflicted by both sides in the past 5 years.
My G-d, what a crazy concept (/sarc).
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