JERUSALEM - Israel calls them targeted killings, attacks using pinpoint accuracy to liquidate Palestinians preparing terror attacks on Israeli civilians. Palestinians say Israeli missile strikes are crude assassinations carried out in crowded streets that often kill the innocent.
Israeli missile attacks that killed 20 Palestinians in three days — more than half of them civilians — have reopened debate over the morality, effectiveness and political wisdom of Israel's strategy.
Israel considers the strikes a prime tool in its effort to destroy Palestinian militant groups, but critics say the assassinations have done little to stop terror.
"This is immoral, totally ineffective and it doesn't fit a democracy," said Yossi Beilin, the former justice minister who opposed the policy when it was adopted in November 2000. "These assassinations are capital punishment without trial."