Palestinian PM-designate Not Immune: Mofaz

[sonz]

OCCPIED JERUSALEM, March 7, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A few fours after an Israeli strike killed five Palestinians, including three boys, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Tuesday, March 7, that Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader, is not immune from Israel's policy of targeted assassinations.

"No one there is immune, not just Ismail Haniya," Mofaz told the Israeli Army Radio in response to a question about whether Israel regarded the premier-designate as a target for assassination, Reuters reported.

Haniya has been tasked by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form the new government following Hamas's landslide election victory.

Mofaz said there will be no question of political or non-political leadership once Hamas carries out attacks against Israeli targets.

"This would be a terrorist leadership, and therefore none of its members would be immune."

No attacks were carried out by Hamas against Israel over the past 12 months under a truce agreement, that officially expired with the beginning of 2006.

Palestinian resistance factions observed a de facto truce since Abbas was elected in January, 2005, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt in March of the same year.

The shaky truce has repeatedly been put to the test by Israeli assassinations of resistance activists and incessant attacks.

Targeted Killings

"These comments by the Israeli defense minister are an illustration of state terrorism," Abu Zuhri said.

Mofaz vowed to continue the targeted assassination of Palestinian activists.

"This policy is just and it will be pursued," he said, adding that the strikes were carried out with "surgical precision."

Mofaz said he was "sorry" that an air strike targeting two Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza on Monday, March 6, killed Palestinian civilians.

"But if you weigh the advantages and disadvantages (of targeted killings), you can see that when we acted against Hamas, the situation changed. For this to work with Jihad, we need a little bit of patience," he claimed.

Israeli helicopters had assassinated a number of top Hamas leaders, including its founder, chair-wheeled Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Azizi al-Rantissi, in 2004.

Witnesses said an eight-year-old boy was killed while standing close to the car of the Jihad activists.

Two other boys, aged 14 and 15, also died in the Israeli strike, said a hospital official.

The killings bring to 4,976 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000, mostly Palestinian.

"State Terrorism"

Hamas accused Israel of pursuing a policy of state terrorism against the Palestinian people.

"These comments by the Israeli defense minister are an illustration of state terrorism," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Hamas does not fear these threats and blackmail. We are committed to the defense of our rights and our people whatever the price."

The UN Middle East peace envoy, Alvaro de Soto, also blasted Israel's extra-judicial killings of the Palestinians.

"While recognizing Israel's right to defend itself, particularly from rocket attacks, I call on the Israeli military authorities to desist from extra-judicial killings and show maximum restraint at this delicate time."