1-1- Presentation

1-1-1- For the Israelis, the assassination of Rehavam Ze’evi, the Israeli General of war, blood and destruction, and, one of the most important and most dangerous symbols of Zionist racism, called for the massive “transfer” and ethnic cleansing of the Arab race in occupied Palestine. Over more than half a century, this incident has:

– Opened a new qualitative stage of confrontation

– “Inaugurated a new era in which everything changed- as stressed by Sharon”^[1],

– “Changed the whole situation” – as Binyamin Ben-Eliezer declared,^[2]

– “Stopped all political contacts between both sides, Palestinian and Israeli “^[3]

– Warned that “fire will catch everything”- as announced by Shimon Peres,^[4]

– and that “it is a declaration of war on Israel from the Palestinians”according to Sharon as well^[5].

1-1-2- According to the Palestinian point of view, the assassination of Rehavam Ze’evi:

– Launched a very important shift in the reaction of the resisting Palestinian Intifada, in terms of moral, deterrent and retaliatory payback (settling of accounts).

– Chronicled the open repercussions on the political, moral, security and media levels in terms of the rising Israeli-Palestinian confrontation against the plans of an aggressive and criminal Israeli war. The most important of these consequences is that it opened first and foremost, the case of the “political assassinations policy”, which is the title of the most dangerous ongoing hectic Israeli war of aggression against the Palestinian people and its successive Intifadas, and, against the most prominent activists and leaders of these people and these uprisings.

1-1-3- This assassination also raised, at the same time, a number of questions and inquiries about the title “Israeli policy of assassinations” such as:

– What are its theoretical and practical introductions in Palestine …?!

– On which ground and what are the environmental conditions on which the bloody and terrorist assassination policy was nourished, strengthened and intensified …?!

– When and how … and what did its context reach…?!

– What are the practical results and harvests on the Palestinian land …?!

– What are the implementing devices and weapons and by which units..?!

– How did the international community deal with it and still is …?!

– What are the position, rules and provisions of international laws and conventions towards it…?!

Several other important questions and inquiries on the same matter, require all to research the literature, the developments, contexts, tools, units, applications and outcomes of the Zionist, criminal, terrorist assassinations policy, entrenched in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.

1-2- Assassinations- definition, concept and legal texts

1-2-1- The provisions and rules of international human rights law covered the crimes of political assassinations and liquidations with a quantity of clear established texts condemning those who counter it, by committing a “war crime” and confronting it in front of the International War Crimes Tribunal.^[6]

• Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mentioned the following:

“Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”^[7]

– According to Article 11.1 of the Declaration:

“Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.”^[8]

• Article 14.3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights regarding a person tried with a penal offense:

“a) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing…

1. b) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him…
2. c) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court.
3. d) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt…”

1-2-2- The 1949 provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention related to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War include:

• Article 71:

“No sentence shall be pronounced by the competent courts of the Occupying Power except after a regular trial. Accused persons who are prosecuted by the Occupying Power shall be promptly informed, in writing, in a language which they understand, of the particulars of the charges preferred against them, and shall be brought to trial as rapidly as possible…”

• Article 72:

“Accused persons shall have the right to present evidence necessary to their defense and may, in particular, call witnesses. They shall have the right to be assisted by a qualified advocate or counsel of their own choice, who shall be able to visit them freely and shall enjoy the necessary facilities for preparing the defense.

Failing a choice by the accused, the Protecting Power may provide him with an advocate or counsel. When an accused person has to meet a serious charge and the Protecting Power is not functioning, the Occupying Power, subject to the consent of the accused, shall provide an advocate or counsel. Provided that the accused agrees with this option…”

• Article 75:

“In no case shall persons condemned to death be deprived of the right of petition for pardon or reprieve. No death sentence shall be carried out before the expiration of a period of at least six months from the date of receipt by the Protecting Power of the notification of the final judgment confirming such death sentence, or of an order denying pardon or reprieve…”

1-2-3- Protocol I, added to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and endorsed in 1977 also includes the subject covered in Article 75 above:

No sentence may be passed and no penalty may be executed on a person found guilty of a penal offense related to the armed conflict except pursuant to a conviction pronounced by an impartial and regularly constituted court respecting the generally recognized principles of regular judicial procedure, which include the following:

(a) the procedure shall provide for an accused to be informed without delay of the particulars of the offense alleged against him…

(b) no one shall be convicted of an offense except on the basis of individual penal responsibility;

(c) anyone charged with an offense is presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law;

(d) anyone charged with an offense shall have the right to be tried in his presence…

1-2-4- In addition to the foregoing, the document of the Economic and Social Council Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty, adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council in resolution 1984/50 on May 25, 1984 states:

Countries should take into account legal standards regarding the death penalty and the execution of the sentence.

Capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts.

Capital punishment may only be carried out pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court after legal process which gives all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial…

1-3- Crimes of the occupation in international law:

If all these provisions and international legal norms prohibit clearly and decisively assassination and liquidation policies, what are the practices of the Israeli occupation in this regard?… How does Israel deal with them? And how do these international and humanitarian legal texts prosecute the Israeli assassination and terrorist practices …? !!

1-3-1- The assassination and liquidation policies which have been and are still being implemented by the Israeli occupation forces, lack the legitimacy and are in violation of the provisions and principles of both the public and international humanitarian laws, in the context of:

– Cases of extrajudicial executions

– Executions without trial

– And cases of retribution, premeditated murder and terrorism.

1-3-2-With reference to the rules and provisions of public and international humanitarian laws, it could be said that the rules and regulations of these laws have absolutely and categorically banned any power, whether civilian in independent regions and states, or military in occupied territories, to carry out physical liquidation, murder and the execution of individuals arbitrarily and extra-judicially; regardless of the causes and reasons for this practice, whether the intention is for the state to punish specific types of actions or practices or to take revenge or deter residents and scare them.

• It was stated in the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, recommended by the decision of the Economic and Social Council resolution dated May 24, 1989, that:

Governments shall prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions and shall ensure that any such executions are recognized as offenses under their criminal laws, and are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the seriousness of such offenses. Exceptional circumstances including a state of war or threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification of such executions. Such executions shall not be carried out under any circumstances including, but not limited to, situations of internal armed conflict, excessive or illegal use of force by a public official or other person acting in an official capacity or by a person acting at the instigation, or with the consent or acquiescence of such person, and situations in which deaths occur in custody. This prohibition shall prevail over decrees issued by governmental authority ^[9]

• The third item of this resolution addresses summary executions thus:

Governments shall prohibit orders from superior officers or public authorities authorizing or inciting other persons to carry out any such extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions.

• Whereas the 19^th item of the same resolution states:

In no circumstances, including a state of war, siege or other public emergency, shall blanket immunity from prosecution be granted to any person allegedly involved in extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions.

– In terms of the rules and provisions of international humanitarian law, many of the provisions and articles handled rationing rules and provisions for such actions.

– In terms of codifying the rules of international humanitarian law conventions, Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 stated:

The High Contracting Parties specifically agree that each of them is prohibited from taking any measure of such a character as to cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment of a protected person, but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents.

• Article 33 of the convention, also stated:

No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.^[10]

• Article 40 of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions, mentioned that:

“It is prohibited to order that there shall be no survivors, to threaten an adversary therewith or to conduct hostilities on this basis.”

• Article 75 of Protocol I, goes further to say:

“The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents:

1. violence to the life, health, or physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular:

(i) murder;

(ii) torture of all kinds, whether physical or mental;

(iii) corporal punishment; and

(iv) mutilation;”^[11]

1-3-3- Regarding the legal significance of these operations or the position of the provisions and rules of international humanitarian law to the occupier on committing such actions and operations in the occupied territories, we can say that:

– These operations fall based on the provisions and rules of general international law, specifically the provisions and terms of the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, recommended by the Economic and Social Council resolution dated May 24, 1989. Within the definition of criminal offenses, the criminal offender is liable for the acts he committed and according to the provisions and rules of this law; this criminal responsibility cannot be dropped based on the existence of an order from a superior on the implementation of this action.

– They also fall based on the provisions and rules of international humanitarian law on premeditated murders, and the implementation of sanctions on protected people accused of having committed certain acts, without taking into consideration the rules and the provisions of this law as regards to the legal guarantees within the scope of grave breaches and war crimes.

1-4- Reasonability of the Occupation Authorities for Assassinations and Field Summary Execution Crimes:

1-4-1- According to the heavily documented data, the Israeli occupation state authorities actually violate, in their capacity as an occupying state, all international conventions, laws and covenants through

• their various administrative, economic, education and military repressive policies
• their settlement and colonialist policy implemented since 1967 and until the present.
• their coercive, criminal, ferocious, repressive full-scale war, which has been incessantly waged against the Palestinian people since September 28, 2000.
• their policy of assassinations and individual and collective executions by which they commit flag, raw war crimes which are censured and condemned by all provisions and rules of human international law and are regarded to be particularly criminal, premeditated, and, an international transgression of this law.

 

1-4-2- In this context many puzzling and loathsome questions are raised about the responsibilities of the following bodies.

• First of all is the patent civil and penal/criminal responsibilities of the occupation state.
• Secondly, the responsibilities of the international community with its legal and humanitarian organizations and agencies.
• Thirdly, are the responsibilities of the big powers, who pose as standard bearers of democracy and human rights; with regard to questioning the occupying state about its crimes.
• Last but not least is the responsibility of the Arabs and their role in actual, genuine and serious,(not only media-wise) support of the Palestinian people.
• All these considerations lead, in the final analysis, and if properly activated, to the protection of the Palestinian people and relieving them of bloodthirsty Zionist terrorism.

 

1-4-3- The most significant commitments and steps to be taken by the Arabs and the international community are the following:

• Unequivocal and forthright condemnation and incrimination of all the Israeli occupation criminal practices perpetrated against the Palestinians.
• Conviction of the Israeli field summary executions and assassinations of Palestinian leaderships and cadres, and demanding the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately stop this illegal criminal policy.
• Charging the occupying state with the responsibility for its crimes and forcing it to pay damages to the Palestinians who were hurt by the occupation practices, violations and crimes.
• Charging the occupying state also with criminal responsibility for its violations, crimes, and murders which run counter to all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention , and prosecution of the criminals directly responsible for the perpetration of these transgressions and/or those who issued orders for such perpetrations with a view to bringing them to the war criminal court.
• Accordingly, the international community and the UN Security Council are to move immediately, and to actually and seriously intervene in the protection of the Palestinian people, and the compulsion of Israel to stop its encroachments and crimes, and, to completely abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

 

 

2-1- Heritage of literature

2-1-1- If the feverish assassinations and physical liquidation of major Palestinian national leaders and activists is regarded to be the most dangerous, terroristic and criminal Israeli/Zionist premeditated and pre-planned policy, it is in fact part and parcel of a comprehensive Israeli/Zionist terrorist strategy. Underground Zionist terrorist organizations applied this strategy long before the birth of the Israeli expansionist state and, never ceased to do so after its foundation. Moreover, this strategy is an essential component of a deep-rooted terroristic and ideological heritage and literature.

2-1-2- The Zionist assassinations policy dates back to the beginning of the last century where leading Zionist thinkers and theorizers examined, planned, advocated and justified bloody terrorism and destruction of the Palestinian people. This resulted later on in an endless series of Zionist war crimes against the people of Palestine. These crimes included terrorist political murders which started with the assassination of Count Bernadette on September 17, 1948 because of his political proposals which demanded repatriation of the Palestinian refugees. The assassination was carried out by the terrorist Stern movement lead by Isaac Shamir as revealed by Roy Jacob Aharony (79 years old) who was one of the senior staff members of the ETSEL Jewish movement. Sixty years later, in 2001, Aharony also disclosed a “deal concluded between Britain and ETSEL in 1941 to assassinate Haj Amin al-Hussein.” ^[12]

2-1-3- Although we are not concerned here with the exposition of the Zionist terroristic political and ideological literature and heritage which date back to the early twentieth century as stated above, we will necessarily stop at the most significant modern political literature reported on the authority of a number of the Israeli leaders which legitimizes and legalizes the bloody murderous policy against the Palestinians.

In fact the murderous actions against Palestinian activists received the blessings of the Israeli decision makers at the highest levels including those of the military judicature of the occupation authorities e.g.

• General Barak the former Israeli prime minister “blessed the assassinations and hailed their perpetrators, and enlisted their crimes as a part of the state policy of combating terrorism.” ^[13]
• Ephraim Sneh, the Deputy-Minister of Defence at the time, had announced

” that the Israeli army will continue to strike at the Palestinians in the most effective, accurate and correct means. ^[14]

• In the meantime, Israeli security sources emphasized later that

” Israel will continue the assassination policy in the future” ^[15]

• while Moshe Kassav the Israeli President, regarded

” Israel’s assassination of Palestinian cadres as self-defence” ^[16]

• In this context, the decision taken by the Israeli government on July 3,2001, concerning the assassination policy may be most patent and dangerous when it says:

“The Israeli inner cabinet decided to go on with the policy of assassination and physical liquidation against Palestinian activists”. ^[17]

• Once again the same security inner cabinet announced on August 7,2001, that

the inner cabinet decided to continue the assassination of Palestinian activists”^[18] and explained that “No Palestinian is immune against assassination”

• But what is stunning is that Sharon, the Prime Minister of the occupation government, opined that

“the assassination policy he follows in encountering the Palestinian Intifadah (uprising) is the best to meet Israeli security needs” ^[19],

what justification does Dick Cheney, the US Vice President, have in “making excuses for the Israeli murders policy?” ^[20]

Yet Sharon himself later on continued his unambiguous stand concerning the assassination policy when he emphasized that

” the clear-cut assassinations policy adopted by Israel will continue until the Palestinian chairman stops the terrorist policy.” ^[21]

Defence Minister Benjamin Bin Eleazer also endorsed this policy when he stated that

“The Palestinian terrorist actions left the Israeli government no choice but to continue the assassination policy.” ^[22]

The Israeli society, in turn, hastened to provide a wider cover for this policy when

“75% of the Israelis expressed their belief that it is necessary for Israel to go on with the assassination policy against the Palestinians” ^[23]

2-1-4- This places us in a clear-cut Israeli scenario with obvious lines and objectives and before an official Israeli assassinations policy, which is legitimized at the highest Israeli political, judiciary and security levels. Thus a policy of “shooting at a definite address” ^[24] is made crystal clear: “All Palestinian leaderships have become targeted to be hunted down” ^[25]. To put it clearly in a nutshell, we are practically placed face to face with an assassin state, which methodically and systematically murders Palestinians, without trial and without defence counsel. All these are unnecessary means used by ethnic purge states, and in the case of Israel, there is no need even to propose them …This Is the State of Israel in 2000/2001 ^[26]

Furthermore, this terrorist policy has been legalized by the Israeli Supreme Court on January 29,2002 when “the Court turned down an appeal filed by Muhammad Barakah, the chairman of Hadash movement and Siham Thabit, the widow of Dr. Thabit Thabit, asking the Court to order the Israeli army to stop the policy of assassination adopted against the Palestinians. The Court ruled here that “it does not interfere with military affairs”And the Israeli army prosecutor-general “legalized assassinations as preventive measures”

2-2- Israeli Assassinations before and during the First Greater Intifadah

The implementation of the Israeli terrorist policy of assassinations, liquidations and field executions perpetrated against the Palestinian national action leaderships and activists overtime we will documented throughout this paper. This section will cover a fraction of the terrorist assassinations carried out against Palestinian leaders throughout the period preceding the First Palestinian Greater Intifadah of 1987-1993 and those committed during the said Intifadah and soon after and n3.

2-2-1- Following are the most significant political assassinations carried out by the Israel Mossad and intelligence agencies during the above stated periods:

• In June 1956 Israeli Mossad assassinated Mustafa Hafiz, the Egyptian Intelligence Officer in Gaza, by an explosive charge mailed to him.
• On July 1972, Israeli security bodies in Lebanon killed Ghassan Kanafani, Member of the Political Bureau and spokesman of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, through an explosive charge placed in his car in al-Hazimiyah area in Lebanon.
• The explosion killed Ghassan and Lamis, his niece, who was accompanying him.
• On October 17, 1972 Israeli security agencies shot dead the martyr Wa’il Zu’ayter in front of his house in Rome. Marty Zu’ayter was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Representative to the Italian government.
• On December 8,1972 Israeli security agencies carried out in Paris an operation which physically liquidated martyr Mahmoud al Hamshari, PLO Representative to the French government. The murder was executed through an explosive charge placed at his home.
• On April 10,1973 a group of Israeli special forces led by Ihud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel and leader of the Israeli Labor Party, executed in Beirut an operation which ended up with the physical liquidation of three PLO leaders: martyrs Muhammad Ysuf al-Najjar and his wife, Kamal Adwan, both of them leaders of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (FATH) and Kamal Nasser, Member of the PLO Executive Committee.
• In June 1973, Israeli agencies exploded a mined car in Europe, which resulted in killing Mahmoud Abu Dayyeh.
• On January 22,1997, Israeli security agencies carried out in Beirut an operation against martyr Ali Hasan Salameh, a commanding officer of the PLO security agencies. The operation was executed through an explosive charge placed in a car and triggered off through remote control just after Slameh’s car passed by. He was instantaneously killed together with his four guards.
• On June 1,1981 Israeli security agencies liquidated martyr Maim Khader in Brussles. Khader was the PLO Representative to the Belgian He was killed on his way from his home to the Palestinian Mission office.
• On October 9,1981 Israeli security agencies liquidated in Rome, martyr Majid Abu Sharar, the official in charge of united Palestinian information in the He was killed with an explosive charge placed under his bed in an Italian hotel where he stayed to participate in the activities of the International Conference for Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
• On April 16,1988 the Israeli special forces carried out in Tunis an operation in which they liquidated martyr Khalid al-Wazir “Abu Jihad”, Deputy commander-in-chief of the Palestinian Revolution Forces and in charge of military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

 

After the conclusion of the Declaration of Principles (DOP) on September 13,1993 and the signing of the Oslo Agreements between PLO and Israel, dozens of Palestinian military commanders and other activists were liquidated such as:

• Martyr Dr. Fathi al-Sheqaqi, Commander of al-Jihad al-Islami Movement who was murdered in Malta in the middle of October, 1995.
• On November 2,1994 Hani Abid, one of al-Jihad al-Islami Movement commanders, was martyred through an explosive charge placed in his car in the city of Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip.
• Yahya Ayyash, Commander of the Military Wing of HAMAS was martyred in Gaza on January 10, 1996. The murder was carried out through an explosive charge placed in his mobile telephone given to him by a collaborator with the Israeli occupation forces.
• On September 10, 1998 Adel Awadallah, Commander of the Military Wing of HAMAS and his bother Ammar Awadallah were killed as a result of an attack launched by Israeli occupation forces against a house in the southern part of the West Bank in which both were staying.

What was stated above gives an idea about Israeli agencies, units and weapons used in executing the voracious assassination policy against the Palestinians during the identified years.

2-3- The Special Units, Weapons and Objectives of Israeli Terrorist Assassinations:

Since the early beginning of the First Palestinian Greater Intifadah 1987-1993, the Shamir – Rabin government, declared a wholesale coercive war against the uprising Palestinian people. This war aimed at finishing off the Intifadah and putting an end to the Palestinian national demands.

That Israeli government used two prongs for its military policy against the Palestinians

The First: the suppressive military prong based on oppression and coercion. One of the main props of this policy is breaking the bones of the Palestinians.

This was laid down and implemented by Rabin himself and also by the special units and squads he established for the assassination and liquidation of the Intifadah cadres and activists. This represented the “Stick”.

The Second was the political prop or the “carrot” offered to the Palestinians through autonomy proposals and projects.

2-3-1- A long Record of Field Executions and Ugly War Crimes:

Within the framework of the first military prong, which is the main theme here, Rabin, the minister in charge of suppressing the First Palestinian Intifadah, organized special squads known as Mustar’ribs (Arabized) and consisted of four units as follows:

1. Dubdoban, operating in the West Bank.
2. Shamshon, which operated in Gaza Strip.
3. Gideonim, which belonged to the Israeli frontier guards and basically operated on alarge scale in the West Bank.
4. Units attached to the Israeli police and operating in the Jerusalem area.

The most distinguished and dangerous was the Dubdoban because “They were characterized by their special military and psychological training which turned their members into professional murderers and made the killing process an easy routine work for them.” ^[27]

Members of these units work while they are disguised in Arab dress “they lead two bifurcated lives, one is their normal Jewish Israeli life and the other is their life as Musta’ribs or Arabized people where they have to put on Arab dress and train in Arabic language, dialects, slogans, customs and traditions, so they may be merged within the Arab community without enabling indigenous Arabs to identify them and foil their mission. ^[28]

2-3-2- Tasks and objectives:

According to different Israeli accounts and pursuant to first-hand observation and contexts in Palestinian territories, the tasks and objectives of Israeli special units are concentrated on “working inside the Palestinians Arab population concentrations, a job not easily accessible to ordinary regular units. Their objectives are mainly centered on identification and arrest or liquidation of the Intifadah wanted leaderships and personnel. This is over and above gathering information under cover of absolute secrecy as well as rousing sedition, confusion and suspicion. ^[29]

2-3-3- Trainings:

The trainings of the Special Forces units are strictly confidential and are held in Israeli military bases located in the 1948 territory of Palestine. The most interesting paradox that catches the attention in their special training is for example “that they have orders to throw Molotov cocktails or stones or even shoot at Israeli soldiers and participate in breaking into sites of the army and the police, as it happened in the case of the Israeli storming of a police station in the old City of Jerusalem on 12/06/2000”. This is done in the scope of the performance of their “Arabist” role; the fullest possible in order to gain the trust of the youth of the Intifada.

The training cycle for the members of the special units takes between 12 to 15 months, and over five phases or periods as follows:

• The first phase of the training: Takes about eight months. It is a period of training undergone by all new recruits to the Israeli army, during which they learn military laws, shooting and fitness, and train to dismantle, use and maintain weapons, etc.
• The second phase of the training: The recruit receives training for four and a half months in AdamCamp, which is located north of Jerusalem / Tel Aviv road. It is a special training for pedestrians, given to all members of the selected units in the Israeli army. The candidates for this session are selected among the recruits who excelled and have demonstrated certain skills during the first phase of the training. Acceptance is decided only after the recruit has volunteered to work in these units and after a specific psychological test which shows the recruit is able to work in difficult conditions and has the willingness to kill and liquidate hostile individuals or groups without any problem, hesitation, conscience, etc. .., and, preferably those who have learned the Arabic language in schools, and, those with oriental features, a distinctive structure and physical fitness.

In this period the recruit receives additional training on certain weapons such as silent weapons, paralyzing bombs… and certain skills such as jumping, climbing fences, killing tactics, judo and karate… etc.. The recruit also learns how to penetrate Arab communities, fire quickly and intensely to “neutralize the enemy” as quickly as possible and without exposing the attacking force to risk.

• The third phase of training: Is a six week session given in a school of “anti-terrorism” which is located in the same camp formerly mentioned. The main objective of this session is to build an offensive instinct in the trainee, and to master the use of weapons in the cities and within the communities, and on demonstrations. The training focuses on the need for trainees to kill decisively through actual and psychological training on shooting close to the target, even as close as a few centimeters of the wounded or dead victims to ensure their liquidation and the inability of the wounded to hinder the work of the attacking force or pose an endangerment in the middle of the killing process.
• The fourth phase of training: Is an intensive training for a period of one month on disguise, acting and The training is given by professional actors from acting and theatrical institutes and includes learning different methods of make-up application and the use of certain clothing. Recruits learn how to dress like Arabs, as those chosen for this task have Arab features and, they are trained to act and disguise themselves as beggars, Arab workers, villagers, Arab women, Bedouin women or peasants, etc. After the training period, the recruits are sometimes individually asked to apply what they have learned in the field. They are sent without weapons to different parts of Israel or Jerusalem to mingle with the Arab or Israeli public to test their skills in disguise, as beggars for example, in the central bus station in Tel Aviv and Haifa, or as Bedouin women in the Beersheba market, or as worshipers at Al-Aqsa mosque.
• The fifth and final period of training: Includes improving the Arabic language abilities of the recruits.. The duration of the course is usually three weeks and is given in the Israeli army intelligence base near the junction “Tel Aviv / Haifa,” where recruits learn the Arabic language, the Palestinian dialect, the terminology used by Arab youths and words of courtesy. They also learn how to pray, act and look like Later on, they are introduced to the main common customs and certain aspects of Arab culture including some religious practices such as “reading the Fatiha (Surat Al-Fatihah), pretending to pray, knowledge of the most important newspapers, etc.” However, this training is superficial and differs from the training given to another style of Arabists who are not the subject of research in this study. We mean Arabists who shall be assigned accommodation in the center of Arab communities permanently or temporarily, such as the spy Eli Cohen or that beggar who was begging for many years in Hamra Street in Beirut prior to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Usually those recruits are older, more experienced and more fluent in the Arabic language, which is why we find that the special units that enter the Palestinian towns are accompanied sometimes by Arab agents whose mission is to address people or drive a car… etc.

Despite the lack of information we have, it is natural to believe that the Musta’rib units carry along with them Arab identities. We also believe,based on eyewitnesses and reports on the dead and the wounded from these special units that they are in their early twenties. It was also found that the age of the Commander in Chief of the Special Forces affiliated to the border guards who was murdered in Jenin during an armed clash with the two wanted men in the eastern neighborhood, did not exceed 27 years of age.

2-3-4- Musta’rib Units: a Spearhead of the Israeli Army in the First Intifadah:

• According to Israel military sources the “Mustarib Special Units”, “Dubdoban” and “Shamson” were created a few months after the outbreak of the First Intifadah,

“when it became clear to the Israeli army that the regular units were unable to face the activities of the popular committees and the chasing groups.” ^[30]

• Following the escalations of thePalestinian Intifadah activities, and military ones in particular, the Israeli government started to

“raise the number of the special units personnel and expand their scope of deployment. This orientation was especially enhanced during the term of office of Ihud Barak as chief of staff of the army who integrated and merged the Intelligence and commando field units within the Special Units.”

As Israelis themselves acknowledge, these units constituted the spearhead of the Israeli army in encountering the heated Intifadah” ^[31] For this reason, the Israeli army throughout the years of the First Intifadah continued to deploy more and more special units in Palestinian territories” ^[32] and to expand and reinforce them at a large scale. ^[33] The Israeli army incessantly deployed more and more incognito units to fire at stone throwers and liquidate Intifadah cadres. ^[34]

• With that background and subsequent to the Israeli endless terrorist practices, various legal institutions and live testimonies and admissions emphasized that

“the Israeli special units carried out field executions against the Palestinians instead of arresting them” ^[35] and that “the Musta’rib units committed unwarranted murders in Palestinian Territories; all official Israeli statements deny that these units are governed by formal military controls . The fact is, the Israeli government allows the personnel of these units to shoot at Palestinian civilians without notice and in a manner that violates international conventions which the State of Israel must abide by.” ^[36]

2-4- The Bloody Record of the Musta’rib Special Units during Intifadah I:

The bloody record of assassinations and field liquidations carried out by the Musta’rib special units -death and field execution squads- as they came to be known later-during Intifadah I, is replete with thousands of criminal practices and perpetrations, assassinations and cold-blood field liquidations. It is true that Palestinian and other sources have actually monitored and documented hundred of murders of Intifadah activists, but they certainly did not exhaustively cover all the crimes of those units.

• While Betselem Israeli Human Rights Center pointed out that about 70 Palestinians received field execution at the hands of the Musta’rib units since the outbreak of Intifadah I and until 1992, Dr.Salih Abdul-Jawwad documented the Palestinian victims who fell at the hands of Israeli special forces and pointed out that “nearly 160 Palestinians were killed by the Musta’rib special units between April 1988 and mid-May, 1993. 40% of these were wanted individuals, about 18% were wall slogan writers and the rest were Intifadah activists especially the masked ones. ^[37] Meanwhile the Palestinian al-Haqq Foundation noted in one of its reports that the Israel Musta’rib units murdered and liquidated 250 Palestinians during Intifadah I.

2-5- Musta’rib Units in 1948 Occupied Palestine :

According to the same Israeli media reports the presence and activities of the special Musta’rib units were not confined to the West Bank and Gaza but also spread within the rules of the Arab community in the parts of Palestine which were occupied in 1948.

• It has even been known that “the first Musta’rib in the Israeli army was Yesrael (Abdo) Ben Yehuda who died in Mid-June 1999. He is viewed as the father of the Musta’ribs and started his activities in Palestine during the 1948 war. He led a unit of Musta’ribs within the Arab community and the same unit is still functioning today.” ^[38]
• Another reportage prepared by Yussi Millman, an Israeli journalist, had revealed earlier that a Musta’rib unit had lived in the midst of the Arabs in Israeli and that its members lived as Arabs in Palestinian villages and married Palestinian women. ^[39]

Several reports came after that to confirm the spread of the Musta’rib units in Palestine of 1948, especially before and during the Aqsa Intifadah of 2000

• “Ma’ariv” newspaper has also revealed that a unit of the frontier guards worked among the Arabs in Israel. ^[40]

Once again the same paper emphatically reported before the outbreak of the Aqsa Intifadah that there are special groups of Musta’ribs working within Israeli Arabs and that they arrested a number of people from Umm al-Fahm.^[41]

 

Thus the role of Must’ribs was completely revealed during al-Aqsa Intifadah in 2000, where it was made known that Musta’ribs are spread among Palestinians inside Israel, ^[42] and that during the Intifadah they infiltrated among Arab citizens and executed numerous tasks such as identification of activists, arrests and assassinations. ^[43]

 

2-6- Palestinian Strike Groups confronting the undercover “Arabists” units

2-6-1- In light of the dangerous proliferation of undercover “Arabists” units in Palestinian towns and villages, and dangerous operations carried out by their members against the Intifada activists and against the People’s Committees in particular, the leaders and cadres of the Intifada were warned against these units.They organized themselves and entered an open relentless war and were able, in certain stages, to detect the methods of work of “Arabists”, hit them hard and hunt them down throughout the years of the Intifada. These Strike Groups succeeded in fighting back and reducing the activities and operations of undercover “Arabists”.

 

Israeli military sources have acknowledged the effectiveness of the Palestinian confrontation of the Israeli special units when they asserted that “a relentless war is ongoing between Israeli special forces and Palestinian striking groups”^[44]. The work of the Palestinian striking groups has evolved in response to Israeli units within the framework of a secret war between the two parties. Spokesmen from the “Black Panther” party, the striking force of Fatah at the time, mentioned that “the fire was directed against the special units of the secret soldiers, ^[45]” while Israeli security sources admitted that “members of the (Palestinian) striking groups achieved victories on the special units.”

2-6-2- As for the Palestinian methods of response to undercover “Arabists” units; one of the first Intifada activists of the Fatah movement said during an interview with the Hebrew newspaper Hadashot that: “The Palestinian population is vigilant and is engaged in surveillance of the movements of these units,” and added more details saying:

“We know about the activity of this unit and their operations in Nablus and elsewhere in the West Bank. What was reported about them on the television program did not have an impact on the involvement of the Intifada, in the end we see that what was published on this subject will help us.

The guards who stand at the entrance of neighborhoods and villages were the only ones who used to examine cars and the people who were doubted. However, after what was broadcasted on TV about the Duvdevan Special Forces, we started feeling that the people are also engaged in the surveillance of any suspicious car or person in the street.

We have our means to counter undercover units, currently they do not wander in the streets as they used to in the past. We also, currently, have people who are standing guard and on surveillance… They surround the area and warn in case they see any suspicious person, whether a Jew or an Arab, whether a young person or an elderly.

If someone enters the Casbah neighborhood in Nablus, even if it’s an old woman, the young people initiate a conversation with her to make sure of who she is… to the point that even old people are initiating conversation with young people.

People in the Palestinian society, especially in villages and refugee camps, got used to exchanging greetings and pleasantries with strangers on the street., This way we can examine the person through these manners.

According to the information we have collected, members of the Duvdevan unit can disguise themselves for a limited period of time or until they arrest the people they want, for when they speak, we know they are Jews, which makes it easier for us to identify them. The activity of these units remains very limited in certain areas, and it may seem easy for Duvdevan members to undertake their activities in major cities such as Nablus, because these cities are frequented by residents from surrounding villages of the population.., However, the hard core of the Intifada are located in the Casbah neighborhood and are engaged in surveillance and stand guard at every entrance.

Residents and activists invented a secret language among themselves. It may be a small hand signal or a movement of facial muscles, which mean that it is urgent to leave the premises because the army is present in the region. In the Dheisheh Camp, for example, all the residents know and recognize each other due to wearing a specific attire; the way they greet and salute, their body allure and mentality; and, no matter how well the military unit is disguised, it can be detected in a few minutes.

Members of the Duvdevan unit are dressed here in civilian clothes and not as soldiers in military uniform. Therefore laws and treaties do not apply to them. We consider them security guards in every sense of the word , and we can rule over them without any serious problem.

2-6-3- The open war between the Palestinian striking groups and the undercover “Arabists” units was continuous until the advent of the Oslo Agreement which imposed a forced truce between the two sides. It started in 1993 and kept going until the phase of political negotiations. This truce carried along with it the end of the first major Intifada and the disappearance of the striking groups. However, it did not definitively end the presence and action of special “Arabists” and undercover units which remained dormant and inactive for a certain period of time. Those units strongly reappeared during the second major Intifada in 2000, especially through the assassination and death penalty policies meted for the activists of the Intifada as will be narrated in the next part

2-7- Musta’ribs and Assassinations under the Peace Process:

Contrary to what was expected to happen in the aftermath of the negotiations process which started in Madrid in 1991, and continued through Oslo and Wadi Arabah, Taba, the Wye River, Sharm al-Shaykh and Camp David II, and which was supposed to be a strategically new phase where the top priority, peace, involved Israel’s abandonment of war, aggression, repression and assassinations of Palestinian people, accumulated data have shown that exactly the opposite was going on.

The full-scale war strategy and flagrant Israeli aggression against the Palestinians continued round the clock during the negotiation and settlement process. Israeli colonialist and settlement activities continued and were practically enlarged, thereby constituting acts of terrorism at all the administrative, economic, military and security levels of the Israeli occupation. Also among the mainstays of the continued Israeli war against the Palestinians were the plans, maps and pre-meditated aggressive intentions, which were immediately withdrawn by General Barak after the failure of Camp David II negotiations.

Meanwhile and under this scenario, the Musta’rib special units maintained their presence, activities, military and liquidating murderous programs in particular, as if there were no negotiations and resolution process.

This fact was unfolding during the Nathanyahu government and was later publicly and strongly displayed during the Palestinian Intifadah II, in 2000.

• In this context, Israeli Hebrew newspapers revealed that the

“Israeli army is using new underground units for chasing armed Palestinian people in the West Bank. These units are called “Dudaygat”, a name of one of the predatory birds.”

It was also stated that “the Israeli army’s re-formed the special secret detachments which had played an active part in the pursuit, assassination and liquidation of activists of the Palestinian Intifadah I (1987-1994); especially included the well known “Dubdoban” and “Shamshon” units, famous as murder squads.”

 

• In October 1999 Israeli press sources and Israeli newspaper confirmed that

“the Dubdoban unit which comprised the military arm of Israeli Shahak in the occupied territories was enlarged and became much more dedicated since the beginning of the political or peace process as its members never ceased to set ambushes for hunting down Palestinian people wanted by the Israelis.”

• “Yade’ot Ahronot”, a Hebrew newspaper revealed that

the Musta’rib units had carried out 150 operations per annum on average, against Palestinian cadres and activists throughout the years 1994-2000. ^[46]

• In this regard, the Ha’aretz Israeli newspaper referred to the most prominent activists assassinated by the special units:

1. Hani Abid, assassinated on October 2, 1994. Abid was a Chemistry lecturer at the College of Technology inAbu Dis, Jerusalem. He was also a member of al-Jihad al-Islami
2. Kamal Kuhayl, a member of Izzeddin al-Qassam Battalions, was murdered with three other Palestinians.
3. Mahmoud Khawaja, assassinated in front of his house, al-Shati Camp, on June 22, 1995
4. Yahya Ayyash, Engineer, killed in Beit Lahiya on June 5, 1995^[47]
5. This is over and above hundreds of intelligence and destructive operations carried out by the Musta’ribs special units throughout the same period of time.

When Barak declared the full-scale coercive and aggressive war against the Palestinians on September 28, 2000, this was done with the background,

• that “this battle is the last one in the war for the Land of Israel”, ^[48]
• that “the borders of Israel in this battle will be where the last settlement peg be driven into ground” ^[49]
• that “Israel is on the threshold of a new situation as there is no longer any peace partner among the Palestinians, as Barak declared^[50],
• that ” Israel is involved in a war with the Palestinians; therefore, Palestinian targets and leaderships must be hit hard,” ^[51]
• that “Israel will lay its hands on each and every one of the Palestinian beasts” as declared by Benjamin Ben Eleazar, the Minister of Defence,” ^[52]
• that “what is going on with the Palestinians is in many ways a war” according to Shlomo Ben Ami” ^[53],
• and that the confrontations currently going on with the Palestinians are the most decisive final battle since the year 1948, “as stressed by General Moshe Ya’alon, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli army” ^[54]

On the other hand, General Sharon, the bulldozer of Zionist terrorism continued first of all, the same Barak methodology of the assassination and liquidation policy, but in a more ferocious, expansive, deep-rooted and arrogant, manner. He also espoused the exonerating background used by Barak and other magnates of his government with additional political, ideological and security justifications and pretexts.

For while Ephraim Sneh, for example, made it quite clear that “the Israeli army will continue striking at the Palestinians and that physical liquidation of the Palestinians constitutes the most effective, accurate and correct means,” ^[55] Moshe Kassav, Head of the State of Israel, alleged as has been said above that “Israel’s assassination of Palestinian cadres is a form of self-defence.” ^[56] At the same time, Sharon underlined this method as an axial Israeli policy when he declared that “the assassination policy (he) followed against the Palestinian Intifadah is the best to meet Israel’s security needs.” ^[57]

3-1- Assassinations- Justifications

According to various Israeli and Palestinian reports, the Israeli assassination policy realizes one or more of the following situations and conditions:

3-1-1- “The liquidation process may be executed as a punishment for the person accused by the Israeli occupation forces of committing deeds that are harmful to the security of the occupation authority and its civilian subjects in the occupied Palestinian territories, or as a penalty to those who plan the execution of these operations, or request of others to do so by attacking the Israeli military forces or hordes of settlers.

3-1-2- Physical liquidations may be done as a sort of precautionary measure which may be resorted to by the Israeli occupation forces to deal with people targeted for arrest because they are dangerous to the security and safety of the occupation forces. In order to ward off expected danger against Israeli troops and settlers, occupation forces may resort to liquidating these people as a preventive measure.

3-1-3- Adoption of physical liquidation against the Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces as aspects and measures of deterrence and intimidation to face indigenous people therewith. For the Israeli occupation forces resort to such actions to demoralize the local people and hence force them to refrain from participation in resistance and other activities of protest staged by the inhabitants of the occupied Palestinian territories. Thereby the liquidation of the Palestinian field commanders of the Intifadah and the protest activists will make the Palestinians realize the risks of resisting the occupying authorities.

3-1-4- Physical liquidation operations against the Palestinians may be carried out against Palestinians in response to reprisals and revenge actions of the inhabitants of the occupied Palestinian territories. This is done through instantaneous Israeli reaction to the resistance and armed attacks launched against the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. Such reaction comes through Israeli military operations targeting the Palestinian resistance leadership and cadres in a bid to persuade the PLO groups that operations carried out against Israel will be responded to by revenge and reprisals against the leaders and activists of these groups. ^[58]

On the background of these pretexts, excuses and premeditated criminal intentions,

• the occupying state of Israel early sent “all its special units for encounter in the Palestinian territories”. ^[59]
• The Musta’rib “Dubdoban Unit was also back to its full-scale activities after the outbreak of the Intifadah”. This was after “the unit had received a severe blow a few months earlier in the aftermath of the unsuccessful operation it carried out to arrest or liquidate Mahmoud Abu Hannoud in the battle it had fought in Asirah al-Shamaliyyah”. ^[60]
• Ha’aretz newspaperrevealed that “the Israeli army uses the special units for assassinations which target the Intifadah leaderships and activists in the Palestinian territories and that these units rely on the information supplied to them by the General Intelligence Agency of Shabak”. ^[61]

In their work, the Musta’rib special units adopted the policy of “Shoot at specific titles or addresses, cadres and activists” ^[62] and the rule of “Shoot and don’t be talkative”. ^[63]

3-2- Assassinations Policy: Methods of Action and Implementation:

In accordance with numerous Palestinian and Israeli testimonies and according to the accumulated data through the “dust of assassination crimes”, the occupying state has harnessed its army with all it Units, weapons and techniques in its full-scale war to suppress the Intifadah. “More specifically it used high and sophisticated technologies in assassination …In fact, the Israeli army continues on a daily basis to invent methods to kill Palestinian citizens and activists “. ^[64]

The Occupation authorities also carried out murders through the Mossad agencies, the army units and its diverse branches and the Shabak, and used numerous and different means and techniques which aim at the assassination and liquidation of listed and wanted persons as well as the most prominent cadres and activists of the Palestinian Intifadah.

Ma’ariv newspaper reported in this connection that “some of the methods and devices used by Israel are reminiscent of the criminal liquidation deeds perpetrated by the underworld gangs all over the globe”. ^[65]

The methods, devices and techniques used by Israeli occupation authorities are multifarious, sophisticated, cumulative and apparently innumerable.

Following are the most important and lethal ones used throughout the Intifadah which include assassinations and field summary executions as cited in Israeli press reports:

3-2-1- Shooting targeted people openly in the street and in broad daylight.

3-2-2- Murders and liquidations at the victims’ homes.

3-2-3- Liquidations by snipers.

3-2-4- Firing missiles from Apache helicopters at cars as has happened on a wide scale during the past few.months

3-2-5- Firing missiles by Apache helicopters into houses and offices as in the case of martyr Abu Ali Mustafa and others.

3-2-6- Assault and liquidation operations through special units and squads.

3-2-7- Mined telephones.

3-2-8- Mined mobile telephones as in the case of martyr Yahya Ayyash.

3-2-9- Mined telephone cabins.

3-2-10- Planting explosive charges.

3-2-11- Mined cars.

3-2-12- Explosive cars.

3-2-13- Use of toxicants.

3-2-14- Firing directed missiles at motor vehicles. ^[66]

In this respect the up-to-date methods, devices and techniques used in field assassinations against the Palestinians have come to be quite congruent and integrative with those of the Musta’rib special units..

3-3- Occupation Criminal Assassinations Record in the Aqsa Intifadah 2000:

3-3-1- While international legal provisions compel the occupying state not to carry out death sentences against civilians without a legal fair trial, Zionist occupation authorities on the contrary,

1. promulgated a law of their own which permits field summary executions of Palestinians
2. “Even the Israeli Supreme Court, as a part of the Israeli State, which could not be otherwise, has ruled that the Israeli army may perform its defensive tasks including assassinations”. ^[67]
3. At the same time the Zionist State officially declared that “Israel will continue its assassination policy against Palestinians. ^[68]

 

Within this context, while an Israeli report confirmed that “Israel has changed into an assassin state,” ^[69] Gideon Levy, an Israeli writer specialized in human rights, wrote under the title “Bullets with an Address” that “the Assassinations Policy practiced by Israel in the Palestinian territories is absolutely illegal and immured”. ^[70]

Thus, pursuant to the rules, laws and regulations of the Zionist occupation state, the occupation army and its special units carried out a series of ugly terrorist murders and liquidations against a number of Palestinian leaders of various Palestinian groups and Palestinian security personnel. In addition, a number of Palestinian civilian adults and children were also killed.

 

3-3-2- Following are the most conspicuous assassinations and murders executed by the occupation authorities against the Palestinians in 2000-2002.

1. On November 9,2000, Hussein Muhammad Salim Ubayyat, a commander of the military wing of FATH Movement in Beit Shaour, Bethlehem Governorate, was assassinated by Israeli helicopters which fired missiles at the car he was driving.
2. On November 22,2000, Jamal Abdul-Razzaq, Awni Zhayr. Na’el Liddawi and Khalid al-Shair were murdered in Rafah Govenorate, Gaza Strip.
3. On November 23,2000, Ibrahim Abdual-Karim Bani Odeh, a commander of the military wing of HAMAS movement, Nablus Governorate, was assassinated.
4. Awad al-Salami, a member of HAMAS, was murdered near al-Muntar area, on December 4,
5. Mahmoud Mughrabi, a member of FATH, was killed in Biet Jala on December 10,
6. Anwar Mahmoud Ahmad Humran, one of al-Jihad al-Islami leading figures, was liquidated in al-Dahiyah quarter, Nablus, on December 2000.
7. Yusuf Ahamd Mahmoud Abu Swayy, an activist of Intifadah I, and wanted by the occupation authorities, was killed in Arts village, Beit lehem.
8. On December 13,2000, Ayyash Uthman Ahmad al-Uwaywi, a HAMAS activists, was assassinated in al-Khalil (Hebron).
9. On December 14,2000, Hani Husseini, one of HAMAS leaders, was murdered near Kitsovim settlement in the Rafah area.
10. On December 15,2000, Sa’id Taha Muhammad Salih al-Kna-rouf, a member of al-Jihad al-Islami movement, was killed near the village of Huwwarah.
11. On December 17,2000, Samih Abed Hussein al-Mala’ibi, a FATH activist, was liquidated in Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem.
12. Thabit Thabit, member of the Higher Central Committee of FATH, Tulkarm area, was killed on December 31,2000.
13. Ahmad Ghandour, one of Force 17commanding officers was murdered in Ramallah.
14. Mas’ud Ayyad al-Dabit, an officer in Force 17 was liquidated in Gaza on February 14,
15. Muhammad al-Madani, a military activists of HAMAS was assassinated in Nablus on February 19,
16. Muhammad Abdul-Al, a major activist of al-Jihad al-Islami was assassinated in Rafah on April 2,
17. Eyad al-Hardan of Arrabeh village, Jenin, was killed on April 5, 2001. He was an activist in al-Jihad al –Islami.
18. The Occupation forces assassinated four young men by an explosive charge in Rafah Camp on April 25,2001: Ramadan Isma’il Azzam, Sameer Sabri Zu’rub, Sa’di al-Dabbas and Yasir al-Dabbas, all officers of the Palestinian security forces.
19. On April 30,2001, the occupation troops blew up a building in Ramallah with remote control devices, killing three people, including the children Sahid Jamal Barakat age 7, his brother Malak Jamal Barakat age 3 and the FATH activists Hassan al-Qadiri.
20. On April 30,2001, occupation troops blew up a mined car in Gaza. The outcome was the death of Hamadi Saleem al-Madhoun and Muhammad Abdul-Karim Abu Khalid.
21. On May 5, 2001, Ahmad Khalil Eisa Ismail was murdered. He comes from Irtas village, Beit lehem, and was one of al-Jihad al-Islami commanders.
22. On May 14,2001, Israeli occupation forces assassinated five members of the Palestinian National Security Forces at a road block near Ramallah. They were Ahmad Zaqqout from Nsairat Camp; Salah Abu Amrah from Rafah; Ahmad Abu Mustafa from Knan Younis; Muhammad al-Khalidiand Muhammad Daw’ud from al-Buraij.
23. On June 5,2001, the occupation troops liquidated Ashraf al-Bardawil, one of al-Jihad al-Islami activists, by exploding his car in Tulkarm.
24. On June 24, 2001, the occupation forces assassinated Usamah Jbarah, a FATH activists, by detonating an explosive charge specially placed in a telephone box in Nablus.
25. On July 1,2001, Israel Helicopters bombed a civilian car near Qabatiyah, Jenin, killing three members of al-Jihad al-Islami Movement: Muhammad Bisharat, Walid Rasmi Bisharat and Samih Fawzi Abu Hnaysh.
26. On July 14, 2001, Fawaz Bashir Badran was killed through exploding his car near his house in Tulkarm .
27. On July 17,2001, Israeli helicopters rocketed a house which belonged to HAMAS killing Umar Ahmad Sa’adeh, Ishaq Ahmad Sa’adeh, Muhammad Salih Sa’adeh and Taha Eisa al-Uruj.
28. On July 25,2001, the occupation forces killed Salah al-in Nur al-Dir Darwazeh, who comes from Nablus and was a HAMAS cadres, with missiles.
29. On July 29,2001, the occupation forces ambushed and murdered Abdul-Rahman Mubarak, Mahir Ahamd Jawabreh, Hikmat Abdul-Karim Abu al-Habal, Muhammad al-Tabi Balatiyyeh, Munir Mustafa Balatiyyeh and Amin Muhammad Balatiyyeh, all were FATH members. Their murder was perpetrated near Wadi al-Far’ah, Jenin District.
30. On July 31,2001, the occupation forces assassinated with helicopter missiles: Jamal Abdul-Rahman Mansour, Jamal Ibrahim Saleem, Fahim Ibrahim Dawabsheh, Umar Mansour Mansour, journalist Uthman Abdul-Qadir Qatanani, journalist Muhammad Abdul-Karim and two children and brothers:Ashraf and Belal Khalid Abu Khadr. All these victims were killed at a HAMAS Research Center in Nablus.
31. On August 5,2001, Israeli forces using helicopter missiles, killed Amir Mansour Hasan al-Khudari, one of HAMAS cadres in Tulkarm.
32. On August 15, 2001, the occupation forces liquidated Emad Abu Snaineh, a member of FATH in al-Khalil (Hebron)
33. On August 17,2001, the occupation forces, using helicopters, killed Abu Ali Mustafa, General Secretary of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine at his office in Ramallah.
34. On September 1,2001, the occupation forces murdered lieutenant Colonel Tayseer Khattab, Assistant Director of Palestinian Intelligence in Gaza.
35. On September 6, 2001 the occupation forces killed Oman Subh from Tulkarm. He was an activist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Also killed, Mustafa Anabas, a FATH activist form Tukarm Camp.
36. On October 16, 2001, the occupation forces assassinated Abdul- Rahman Hammad, one of the commanders of Izzeddin al-Qassam Battalions.
37. On October 16, 2001, the occupation forces assassinated Eyad al-Akhras, one of HAMAS cadres by blowing up his house in Rafah.
38. On October 31, 2001, the occupation forces murdered Jamal Jadallah (30 years old), a Commander of Izzeddin al-Qassam Battalions in al-Khalil (Hebron) area and Abdullah al-Jaroushi (39 years old), a political official of HAMAS in Tulkarm.
39. On November1,2001 the Israeli Special Units killed Yasir Asideh and Fahmi Abu Aysheh of HAMAS in Beit Reema.
40. On November 6,2001, the occupation forces liquidated Eyad Mahmoud al –Khatib, Ali Ibrahim Abu Hijleh and Jamal Abu Mallouh, from Deir Istya and Majdi al-Khatib and Ekrimah Staitiyyeh form Jenin.
41. On November 7,2001, the Israeli Special Units murdered Eisa Dababseh (53 years old) from Yatta, al-Khalil (Hebron).
42. In November 19,2001, the Israeli Special Forces arrested and executed naval Captain Midhat Abu Dalal (32 years old) and Muhammad Hussein Ibrahim (25 years old), a junior naval officer.
43. On November 23,2001, the occupation forces continued assassinations, killing Muhammad Saleem Sama’neh and Mohammad Ibrahim Sama’neh, both from FATH Movement in Beit Eiba, Nablus; they also killed Mahmoud Abu Hannoud, a military senior official of HAMAS; Ahmad Rasheed Hasaykeh and his brother Ma’moun Hasaykeh both by firing five missiles at their cars on Jaba’-Yasid road north of Nablus.
44. On January 14,2002, Israeli Special Forces assassinated Muhammad Ra’ed al-Karmi, Commanding Officer of al-Aqsa Martyrs Battaltions, FATH Movement in Tulkarm through an explosive charge.
45. On January 14,2002, Israeli Occupation Forces killed and mutilated the bodies of four HAMAS activists during an onslaught against the city of Nablus. The four were Yusuf Khalid al-Surakji, Naseem Shafeeq Abu al-R’us, Jasir Ahmad Samaru and Kareem Dheeb Mafarjeh. This was viewed as one of the most atrocious Zionist massacres.
46. On January 25,2002, the occupation forces assassinated Bakr Hamdan, a HAMAS leader, in Khan Younis.
47. On February 4,2002, Israeli forces perpetrated a new massacre when a U.S -made Israeli Apache helicopter fired missiles at a car in the southern part of Gaza Strip and killed five members of the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine and wounded three others; while other helicopters reduced three workshop to rubble in Jabalia.. The martyrs were Ibrahim Jarbou’ Ghattas, Ayman al-Baghdadi, Majid Abu Mu’ammar and his brother Nassir Abu Mu’ammar, and Nassir Abu Azar (30 years old).

In addition to these crimes, series of other assassinations were committed, the most prominent and the most dangerous among them are the following:

48. The assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on 3/22/2004.
49. 49. The assassination of Dr. Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi on 4/17/2004.
50. The assassination of four activists from the Al Aqsa Brigades in Nablus on 5/2/2004.
51. The assassination of three cadres of Hamas in Gaza on 5/30/2004.
52. The assassination of seven activists of al-Qassam Brigades and Saraya Al Quds and Al-Aqsa Martyrs in Nablus on 6/26/2004, among whom was the commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus and two commanders of the Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades; and the assassination of five militants from the Al Aqsa Brigades in Tulkarm on 7/25/2004.

3-3-3- The occupation army and its special units also carried out a series of assassinations and terrorist liquidations against hundreds of Palestinian leaders of the various Palestinian factions and officers from the Palestinian security services. A number of Palestinian civilians and children were also assassinated with them.

3-3-4- According to Palestinian data, the occupying forces committed more than 300 political assassinations since the start of the Intifada and until August 2007 and killed about 651 Palestinians and wounded more than a thousand during the Intifada.

• According to announcements of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, assassinations or murders against the law, carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against activists and Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Intifada, claimed the lives of 651 Palestinians.”^[71].
• During the ongoing Intifada, the occupying forces remarkably carried out air and ground assassination operations, against political, military leaders and Palestinian civilians from various organizations, justifying this with the intention of these people to hit Israeli targets.
• Most of these operations happened either by direct shooting on the targets, or through helicopters, surveillance aircrafts, F-16 aircraft and with the help of agents or marks on the ground.
• According to Palestinian information sources, the Israeli occupation forces committed hundreds of crimes of this kind since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Intifada, targeting Palestinian activists, whether politicians or military.

Palestinian documents cite, “430 victims as targeted for these crimes, and 221 not targeted, including 73 children”. These crimes were described as a continuation of a series of Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories and with total disregard for the lives of Palestinian citizens.

According to other Palestinian data, the occupation forces committed 177 crimes of political assassination since the start of the Intifada and until 4/30/2004, during which 374 Palestinians were killed and 787 others wounded. Among the victims, were 135 Palestinians who were present at the scene of the crime by coincidence, as well as 45 Palestinian children”.

While the report issued by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights revealed that Israel carried out 96 assassinations against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, during the period between 1 August 2006 and June,30 2008, the report entitled, Assassination of Palestinians … An Israeli Official Policy, clarified that the murders resulted in the death of 173 Palestinians, including 150 targeted and 23 not targeted, including 3 children and 3 women, on Wednesday the 2nd of July 2008 “.

The report added that the number of murders in the Gaza Strip reached 63 crimes, which resulted in the martyrdom of 119 Palestinians, while in the West Bank, the Israeli occupation forces committed 33 crimes, which resulted in the martyrdom of 54 Palestinians.

According to the report, since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, the Israeli occupying forces have committed 348 crimes, which resulted in the martyrdom of 754 Palestinians, which constitutes 20% of the total number of civilian victims who fell during the same period at the hands of the occupation forces.

According to the same document, among the victims were 521 targeted Palestinians, 233 not targeted, including 71 children and 20 women. 350 civilians were killed in the West Bank and 405 in the Gaza Strip.

The fourth part of the report presents the methods and tools used by the Occupying Power in the implementation of assassinations against Palestinian activists. The most prominent of these methods were targeted bombing by warplanes, the use of undercover special units “Arabists”, ambushes and surrounding targeted homes.

The fifth part of the report narrates the examples of the most prominent murders committed by the occupation forces during the period covered by the report, including the assassination of the “Haiya” family in Gaza City on May 20, 2007, which resulted in the death of eight members, and the murder of members of “Al-Yazji” family on January 16, 2008, which resulted in the death of three people.

• A researcher specialized in prisoner affairs, Abdel Nasser Ferwaneh, said that “he documented 84 executions of citizens after being arrested and controlled completely by the occupation forces,since 1967; including 59 cases since the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000 ^[72].”
• The Palestinian Ministry of Information documented, “1859 children and 476 women killed since 2000 during Al-Aqsa Intifada. The total number of martyrs killed by the occupation forces amounts to 7407”^[73].

3-4- Tales of murder and field executions…!

3-4-1- The killing of the Palestinian martyr Jawaher Abu Rahma -36 years old- brought back to the scene, the endless tales of assassinations and field executions committed by the occupying forces against Palestinian children, women, elderlies and youth…!

• Eyewitnesses said that she died in the same place where her brother, Bassem Abu Rahma, was killed, when he was hit by a tear-gas canister on the head, which was fired by Israeli soldiers at close range during a demonstration against the wall in April 2009. Her brother was also subject to shooting, as he was handcuffed, by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier in the nearby village of Ni’lin a year and a half before ^[74]. “
• Her funeral took place in the village of Bil’in and was attended by hundreds of Palestinians who carried Palestinian flags and banners of the Palestinian factions, including the flags of Fatah and Hamas. The participants chanted at the funeral, “Dear Haniyeh and Abbas, our unity is the foundation,” and “From Bil’in we declared Jawaher a star in our sky” and “The door of Al-Aqsa is made of iron only opened by the martyrs.”

 

3-4-2- A Palestinian girl reported that she saw, an Israeli soldier shoot a rubber bullet at a young man named Abu Rahma, during a peaceful demonstration against the separation wall in the village of Ni’lin, near Ramallah city in the West Bank.

3-4-3- The general manager of Al-Haq Organization in Ramallah, Shawan Jabarin, confirms, “there are many documented cases and a lot of hidden cases which are greater and more dangerous than the ones we know about”. He pointed out to the documentation of the number of shooting situations and liquidations against Palestinians during their arrest and their presence in the grip of soldiers and intelligence officers, explaining that linking these issues together “implies that there is a policy, a trend or a wide practice, at least.”

• He further said: “That a Palestinian from the Jabbour family from the village of Salem was arrested during the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada. He was taken from his home and was shot and killed in front of his family under the pretext of trying to escape”; adding that this kind of case was repetitive during the first intifada (1987-1993).
• He explained the recurrence of war crimes as due to the absence of a ” dissuasive system or a system that prevents the continuation of such practices. They are helped and encouraged by the silence; and this generated among soldiers a sense of immunity to prosecution and accountability”. Which means that these practices are transferred into a “policy practiced at different levels in the field and in which officers participate at different levels”

3-4-4- Furthermore, a human rights report revealed “that the number of victims of Israeli assassinations of Palestinian activists reached 826 martyrs since the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, which represents 20 percent of the total number of martyrs who were killed during the uprising. Among the victims, 367 were killed in the West Bank and 459 in the Gaza Strip; 582 were targeted, 245 not targeted, representing 29 percent of the victims of assassinations “^[75]

3-4-5- He said that the report issued by the “Palestinian Center for Human Rights” in Gaza, entitled “Assassination of Palestinians … An Israeli Official Policy” considered that “the number of innocent civilian bystanders killed, demonstrates clearly that the occupation forces do not pay attention to civilian life and property, and concentrate on eliminating the target, even if it takes the life of dozens of victims. “.

• He added: “Among the victims of assassinations are 89 children among which 5 are targeted and 82 not targeted. Children represent 34 percent of the victims which are not targeted.These numbers contradict the delusion that the occupation forces are improving their ability to carry out assassination crimes without hurting civilians “.
• The report indicated that “the assassination crimes that fall outside the scope of the law and carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian activists, including politicians, are the operation of field executions carried out in a heinous manner and without the provision of a fair trial or any moral scruples from the State of the Occupation.”.

It is mentioned that assassination is one of the most prominent and obvious crimes that demonstrates the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians, with premeditation and public and formal consent of the highest political and judicial bodies in the State of Israel. Most of the time, the Israeli governments did not give much importance to its responsibility in carrying out such criminal operations against Palestinian civilians.

3-5- Policy of assassinations against scientists: ^[76]

This policy comes in the Israeli strategic context of the open war against Arabs, or any other Muslim country in the Middle East, who according to this strategy should not have nuclear technology. Therefore, Arab nuclear

scientists and their collaborators should be assassinated. The terrorist Israeli record contains many assassinations that date back to the beginning of the Israeli state and before…!

The detention of General Ali Reza who disappeared in 2007 in an Israeli prison, while he was carrying information about the Iranian nuclear program (1), as well as the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, one of the senior nuclear scientists in Iran, in a motorcycle explosion near his home in Tehran, opened the file of Israeli assassinations and the role of the Israeli Mossad in the countries of the region(2).

According to available information, the abduction of the military general and the murder of Mohammadi is only an episode of a long series of assassinations carried out by the Israeli Mossad against Arab and Muslim nuclear scientists. We can find in the assassination records the following:

3-5-1- Dr. Samira Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist

She received an invitation to visit Washington and was killed there.

In August 1952, the case of the Egyptian nuclear scientist, Dr. Samira Moussa was opened against an unknown attacker, meanwhile came the revolution which made this case forgotten by the government, as the government did not follow up on this issue of identifying those responsible for her death.

Dr. Samira Moussa was born on the third of March, 1917 in a village in Zefta. She was the official newspapers reader for the mayor of the village, even though she did not attend any school. She memorized the Quran entirely, and when her extreme intelligence was noticed by the Sheikh of the village, he insisted on the importance of educating this girl who will have a brilliant future. In fact her father took her to Cairo, at age eleven and enrolled her in Al Ashraf schools which was administered by Prophet Moses’ congregation. Everyone predicted her bright future, but they did not expect her to die in a severe, mysterious car accident in the United States.

On the morning of August 15, 1952, Dr. Samira took her car that was driven by an Indian driver and headed to California where she was invited on that day to visit nuclear research laboratories. California’s roads were bumpy and mountainous, and suddenly the car she was in, was hit by another car which pushed it into the abyss; falling from the top of the mountain, leading to her death.

3-5-2- Dr. Ali Moustafa Mosharafa

Dr. Ali Mustafa Mosharafa, is an Egyptian physicist who was called the Arab Einstein. He was born in Damietta on July 11, 1898 and displayed his intelligence at a very young age. He graduated from the higher school of teachers in Egypt in 1917 and became a professor at Cairo University at the age of thirty. He was sent on a mission to England and was the first Egyptian to earn a PhD from England. Albert Einstein was very impressed with his research and called him one of the greatest physicists in the world. He was one of the few scientists who discovered the secret of the disintegration of the atom. It is based on his theories that the foundations of the hydrogen bomb were instituted. But he did not wish for hydrogen bombs to get built and tried to fight against the permission of manufacturing them. They, however, were manufactured after his assassination in a mysterious accident for his refusal to get a US citizenship. He formulated solid theories in the nuclear and radiation fields and has several extensive writings in these areas. After his death, Einstein mourned him saying: I cannot believe that Mosharafa is dead, I think he is living among us, half of the knowledge has died with him.

3-5-3- Dr Gamal Hamdan

The most important Egyptian geographer, and the author of the book ‘Egypt’s Identity”. He Worked as a teacher in the Department of Geography in the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University, and published several books during his university work. He predicted the fall of the Eastern Bloc 20 years ahead of its occurrence and was the author of the book “Anthropology of Jews” which proves that contemporary Jews are not descendants of the Jews that came out of Palestine.

In 1993, his body was found with its bottom half burnt. Everyone thought that Dr. Hamdan died of his burns, however, Dr. Youssef Al Jundi, the health inspector in Giza, proved in his report that he did not die of gas asphyxiation and that the burns were not the cause of his death, because they did not attain the point of causing his death.

The persons close to Dr. Hamdan discovered the disappearance of the draft copies of books that were on the verge of finalization, one of them being “Judaism and Zionism”. Knowing that the fire that broke out in the apartment did not reach the books and papers of Dr. Hamdan suggests the disappearance of these drafts was done deliberately.

To this day, no one knows the reason of Dr. Hamdan’s death, or where the drafts of his books about Jews disappeared

3-5-4- The scientist Samir Najib

The scientist Samir Najib, Egyptian nuclear physicist who is considered the vanguard of the young generation of Arab nuclear physicists. He graduated from the Faculty of Science at Cairo University at an early age and continued his scientific nuclear research. He was nominated to travel to the United States on a mission and worked under the supervision of professors of nuclear science and physics and was not older than thirty-three

3-5-5- Dr. Said Al Sayyed Bdeir

Said Al Sayyed Bdeir, son of the Egyptian actor Mr. Al Sayyed Bdeir, is an Egyptian scientist specialized in the field of satellite communication and atmosphere spacecraft. He was born in Rod El Farag in Cairo on the 4^th of January 1944 and died on the 14^th of July 1989 in Alexandria in an incident described by many as a deliberate murder.

3-5-6- Dr. Nabil Al Keliny

Dr. Al Keliny’s story is very bizarre. He disappeared in 1975 and no one knew his fate since. This scientist was sent by the Faculty of Science at Cairo University to Czechoslovakia to do more nuclear research and studies. He graduated with a PhD in nuclear studies from the University of Prague and his genius scientific side was written about in Czech newspapers. On the morning of January 27, 1975 the phone of his apartment rang, he went out of his house and never came back.

3-5-7- Dr. Nabil Ahmed Fleifel

Nabil Ahmed Fleifel was a young Arab nuclear scientist who was able to study the nuclear nature, and became a nuclear scientist at age thirty. Even though he was from Al Am’ari refugee camp in the occupied Palestinian territories, he refused all offers of work abroad proposed to him discretely through intermediaries. He used to feel that he would serve his homeland with his research and scientific studies. Suddenly Dr. Nabil disappeared and then, on Saturday the 28^th of April 1984, his body was found in the area of Beit-Ur. No investigation was carried out.

3-5-8- The Saudi doctor Samia Abdul Rahim Maimani

She had the greatest impact in the balance of operations of brain and nerve surgery. She also transformed the most specialized and hardest surgeries, into simple surgeries with local anesthesia. She was offered a large sum of money (five million US dollars) and the US citizenship in exchange for some of her inventions but she refused.

Dr. Samia continued her studies and completed her research. She was not touched by despair until she was hit by a major tragedy; when photographs of her body were shown on CNN television and she was recognized by her family.

3-5-9- Dr. Salwa Habib

Dr. Salwa Habib, a professor at the Institute of African Studies, was one of the biggest opponents to the Zionist project in the African continent and poured her interest in exposing Israeli leaders’ schemes in that regard.. Her latest book was probably “The Israeli Influence in Africa”, which was in the process of being published; this being a sufficient justification to get rid of her. Her body was found slaughtered in her apartment and detectives failed to find the perpetrators of the incident.

3-5-10- Dr. Hassan Kamel Sabah (The Arab Edison)

Dr. Hassan Kamel Sabah created more than 176 inventions among them machines and devices for the fields of electrical engineering, television, aerospace engineering and energy.

On the evening of Sunday 31, March 1935, Dr. Hassan died suddenly while he was coming back home, his car fell in a deep hole. He was transferred to the hospital where he died. The doctors were not able to specify the cause of death especially that Dr. Sabah was found in his car without any injuries; which suggests a likely criminal act.

3-5-11- The Lebanese scientist Rammal Hassan Rammal

He was one of the most important modern scientists of the era in the field of physics of materials as described by Le Point magazine, which also said that he was a pride for France. He was also considered by the research community in Paris, the seventh among one hundred persons who shaped the scientific features of the twentieth century in France.

His death was under suspicious circumstances as it occurred in the laboratory in the Center of Scientific Research in France, and came after the death of another Muslim scholar, Dr. Hassan Kamel Sabah.

The presence of suspicious killers behind the death of Dr. Ramal is not ruled out as it is similar to the death of Dr. Hassan Sabah in that both bodies did not have any apparent cause of death.

3-5-12- Yahya El Mashad

An Egyptian nuclear scientist and a university professor, specialized in nuclear reactor engineering. After freezing the Egyptian nuclear program after the 1967 war, Mashad, traveled to Iraq in 1975 to work on the Iraqi nuclear project, At that time, the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had signed a nuclear pact with France for the start of the Iraqi nuclear project. After Mashad rejected a shipment of uranium from Paris to Baghdad because it was non-conforming to the specifications, France insisted on him to attend to the shipment and receive it in person. Dr. Mashad’s body, smashed in the head, was then found in his hotel room on June18,1980.The French police registered the incident against an unknown.

 

It is worth mentioning that Israeli planes bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor and destroyed it two months after the death of Mashad, in what was known as “Operation Opera”.

3-5-13- Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al Azmirly

He was an Egyptian nuclear scientist who graduated from the Faculty of Science at the University of Alexandria in 1962 and received his doctorate in polymer material from Russia. In 1975, he was seconded to Iraq and was appointed as a Faculty of Science at the University of Baghdad. After the US invasion of Iraq he was arrested on April 26, 2003 to be questioned about the scientific activities related to his field. On February 19, 2004, his body was sent to Egypt with the International Red Cross.

 

Thus, murder or disappearance was the fate of a large number of Arab scientists who were brilliant in their fields. If those scientists had stayed alive, they would have continued their research, and their work would have allowed the Arab countries to be scientifically advanced instead of being underdeveloped as the case is now, and from which the people of the region are suffering. Remarkably, the common fact of those murders and disappearances is that they happened right before the accomplishment of a major discovery that would change the world, or the determination of the scientists to return home to profit their country from their experience. The attention is also drawn to the fact that the scientists who died under mysterious circumstances were specialized in atomic or nuclear physics.

Going over the mounting crimes of the Israeli occupation in the recent days in Balata, Nablus, Gaza, and all the Palestinian places along the occupied Palestinian Arab homeland prove that these crimes are not incidental or incidentally escalated, rather, they are systematic, premeditated war crimes… They are certainly comprehensive war crimes, that violate all international and humanitarian laws. The acts committed here by the occupation state are known as “state terrorism” with all the intrinsic connotations of this term.

After the state of occupation dealt with political assassinations carried out by the Mossad against the leaders of the Palestinian and Arab elites, with great secrecy and without revealing the details of these operations, it seems that a shift occurred in this Israeli policy, as it became important to disclose the documents, testimonies and confessions, which unveil the role of the Israeli Mossad in a series of assassinations and terrorist bombings in Arab and European capitals. These crimes are no longer kept secret, or is their revelation deferred until after the passage of half a century of perpetration, for example; instead, the Israelis started recognizing and bragging about some of Mossad’s operations and bombings…!

After successive reports and information that confirm the involvement of the Mossad and the Israeli intelligence in countless bombings, and criminal assassinations that have occurred, and are still occurring in Beirut and Iraq, an Israeli book revealed the details of the assassination of the Secretary General of Islamic Jihad, Dr. Khalil Shaqaqi, in Cyprus.

3-6- The details of the assassination of Al-Shaqaqi

The newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published in its weekly supplement on Friday 08.06.2007, a chapter of the book «Point of no Return», written by the journalist Ronen Bergman, the story of the Mossad which reveals the details of the assassination of the founder of the Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shaqaqi in October 1995, in the Italian island of Malta while returning from a conference in Libya.

The book reveals that the then Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, ordered in January, the assassination of Shaqaqi, following the implementation of the operation of the Islamic Jihad in Beit Lid in January 1995, which killed 22 Israelis and injured 108 others. After the issuance of Rabin’s orders, the Mossad started preparing to assassinate Shaqaqi, via the unit called “«Caesaria cell”. Before the implementation of Beit Lid operation, Shaqaqi had been under the Israeli radar and control for many years. At the time of Rabin’s orders, the Mossad were able to easily locate him in Damascus.

However, the head of the Military Intelligence, Uri Sagi, warned of the consequences of this operation, if performed in Damascus, saying that such an operation «will lead to a large Syrian anger».

According to the Israeli book, Rabin listened to Sagi’s recommendations and ordered the «Mossad» to prepare an alternative plan to assassinate Shaqaqi somewhere other than Damascus. Even though the Mossad encountered difficulty in planning for the assassination outside of Damascus, Rabin’s orders were executed.

Shaqaqi was aware that he was being followed; that is why he did not go out of Damascus much and was careful according to the Israelis. Mossad Sources mentioned that Shaqaqi used to travel only to Iran on direct flights. However, and despite the circumstances, the Mossad was able to chart an alternative assassination plan

In the beginning of October of 1995, according to the Mossad, Shaqaqi received an invitation to participate in a seminar, “gathering the heads of guerrilla organizations in Libya”, and the Mossad was also aware that Said Musa Maragheh (Abu Musa) from the Fatah movement will also participate in this seminar.

One of the members of the Mossad, whose identity being unknown, said that Abu Musa is one of Shaqaqi’s rivals and if Abu Musa participates in the seminar, Shaqaqi will definitely participate, and he asked the specialists of the Mossad to get ready.

The Mossad knew the travel path of Shaqaqi from his previous trips, meaning through Malta. Members of the Caesarea cell drafted two plans: the abduction of Shaqaqi while traveling from Malta to Libya, but Rabin did not agree with this plan “fearing international problems”.The second plan was to assassinate Shaqaqi during his stay in Malta.

According to the book, members of the Mossad traveled to Malta and waited for Shaqaqi in the airport. Shaqaqi did not come out of the first flight nor the second, nor the third. They started giving up on the fact that Shaqaqi will land in Malta, when they heard the voice of one of their members saying, “wait, wait, there is someone sitting aside and alone”. He went close to the men and said in the device “it seems to be him, he is wearing a wig as a disguise”.

Shaqaqi waited an hour in Malta and later traveled to the conference in Libya, without knowing he was being watched. The Mossad reports that Shaqaqi met Abu Musa and Talal Nagi one of the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine under the general command of Ahmad Jibril, there in Libya.

The book adds that: On the 26^th of October, Shaqaqi returned to Malta and the Mossad was aware that he was using a Libyan passport under the name of “Ibrahim al-Shawish”. Based on this information, they did not find any difficulty in locating him in Malta..

Al Shaqaqi arrived on the morning of the same day to Malta and rented room 616 in a hotel located in the city of Sliema for one night. At 11:30 AM, Shaqaqi came out of the hotel to go shopping, went toMarks and Spencer and bought clothes from there, he then went in another shop and bought three shirts.

According to the story of the Mossad, Shaqaqi continued walking in Malta and did not pay attention to the Yamaha motorcycle which was carefully following him all the way.

The driver of the motorcycle started approaching Shaqaqi and calculating every step. The passenger sitting behind the driver took a gun with a silencer out of his pocket and shot Shaqaqi with three bullets on his head to make sure “he will not come out alive from this operation”.

A pocket was taped to the Israeli pistol to capture the empty shots andto vacate the crime scene from any evidence; avoid investigations and remove suspicions against Israel.

The Mossad revealed that the motorcycle had been stolen the night before the implementation of the operation. The Mossad agents were redeemed from Malta without revealing the details.

The book also states that members of the Caesarean cell also participated in the attempt to assassinate the head of the Political Bureau of the Hamas Movement, Khaled Mashaal, in Jordan. The cell was later dismantled.

The assassination of Shaqaqi was one of the “most successful operations carried out by the Mossad”, but it made Israel “enter a state of high alert after warnings reached bombing operations. ”

Al Shaqaqi was born in the Rafah refugee camp in 1951, he joined the University of Zagazig in Egypt, where he studied medicine. He wrote a book called ‘Khomeini, The Islamic Solution and the Alternative’ and founded the movement Islamic Jihad. He was arrested in Palestine more than once in 1983 and 1986, and, in August 1988 he was arrested in Lebanon after the outbreak of the first intifada.

3-7- The story of the Iraqi reactor destruction

In the context of the confessions of the crimes committed by the Mossad, Nahum Admoni, Mossad’s earlier chief, had unveiled recently “that the Israeli Mossad (foreign intelligence) carried out military operations inside the French territory before the Israeli Air Force bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in the month of June 1981 (Maariv Hebrew newspaper 4/13/2007).

The Hebrew newspaper stated that for the first time the leaders of the Israeli Mossad agreed to disclose the merits of the Israeli operation. The head of the Mossad at the time said: “This operation is the largest quality military operation carried out by the Israeli Mossad in the twentieth century.”

In the context of his speech, Admoni revealed that: “The Israeli Mossad carried out military operations inside the French territories, prior to the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor and before the French provided the Iraqis with the necessary equipment for a nuclear reactor”. According to his statements, dozens of Mossad members were sent to the French territories, with the consent of the political leadership in the Jewish state, where they spied and investigated without being caught by the French and their intelligence agencies and without the French finding out their assigned mission. ”

3-8- The bombings and assassinations in Lebanon

Mossad’s assassination poerations in Lebanon are supported by reports, investigations and a o series of testimonies and confessions.

The discovery of the Mosadi network by the Lebanese security services, dispelled a lot of uncertainty related to the bombings and assassinations in Lebanon. As revealed by the preliminary investigations, the leader of this network, fled successfully to “Israel”. The network carried out a series of bombings and assassinations, among them the assassination of two Islamic Jihad officials as well as the assassination of Ali Hassan al-Theeb / Abu Hassan Salameh from Hezbollah with a double bomb in 1999, and Ali Wesal, a Hezbollah official, with an improvised explosive device in 2003. Also assassinated is Jihad Jibril, son of Ahmed Jibril in 2002…

According to a German book, released in April 2006, the Israeli military intelligence service is involved in the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic al-Hariri …

According to reports, investigations and estimation strategies of a number of senior politicians, Lebanese researchers and others, all the bombings and assassinations that have shaken Beirut since the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri and until today, were/are carried out by the Mossad networks and the Israeli intelligence.

The consensus of a number of reports and strategic assessments as well, reveal that all the terrorist bombings that occurred successively against Christian churches, Shiite mosques, UN civilian targets and various international bodies in Iraq and elsewhere, serve in their strategic outcomes, Israel and the United States..

3-9- Lavon Affair

Recent Hebrew sources revealed facts about the “Lavon Affair” in Egypt in 1954 to confirm “that the first unit of international terrorism is the Israeli unit that landed in Egypt”. The Egyptian security forces at that time had succeeded in arresting the Israeli Mossad agents who carried out terrorist attacks against civilian targets in Alexandria, and those that were planned for implementation in Cairo, which were designed to create tension, fear and chaos inside the country on the one hand, and to tense and sabotage the American-Egyptian relations and the British-Egyptian relations on the other. All intended to turn the two countries and the international community against Egypt.

A new book entitled “Memoirs of Eliezer Sodet” which provides an account of the Jewish terrorist gang Etzel, that was active before the establishment of the Zionist State, reveals that “the former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin leader of Etzel, was a central subject in the assassination attempt of the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1952… ” Given those past terrorist bombings in Egypt and the attempted assassination of the German Chancellor, and what is happening these days in Iraq, Lebanon, Istanbul (earlier), Washington and New York, we see the same scenarios and schemes to a large extent.

There are a number of Israeli and American reports and documents that address the Jewish conspiracy and the role of the Israeli Mossad in the Twin Towers bombings in Washington and New York. Whereas a series of Iraqi reports and data have confirmed, for example, the role of “Israel” and the “Mossad” in the terrorist bombings in Iraq. A document issued by “the Israeli Institute for Oriental Studies” unveiled “the involvement of Israel in the series of bombings in Beirut,” noting that “the senior military and political leaders want to turn Lebanon into an oasis where Israeli weapons are used.”

The Lebanese government has initiated at the time, a complaint to the Security Council against “Israel”, and surpassed the case of the network, that was called the “surprise of the dawn” because it was from the intelligence unit and the media. However, in order to turn a complaint into an international political, diplomatic and judicial issue, hard evidence must be provided. Lebanon and the Arabs did not level up to this job in this case…!

It is therefore essential to look for evidence on who’s behind all terrorist bombings and whose interests and strategic objectives they serve whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Istanbul, or any other country, as long as these terrorist and sabotage bombings, target someone or try to create chaos and civil wars, as in Iraq and Lebanon.

All indicators and documented data, which are mainly from the US and Israeli sources, lead to a serious conclusion, that: the Israeli “Mossad” is behind the bombings and assassinations in Beirut …, the earlier bombings and assassinations of Iraq … and the earlier bombings and assassinations in Egypt…!

 

If the assassinations and physical liquidation policy against senior leaders and national Palestinian activists, is considered “the most dangerous and terrorist Zionist / Israeli policy and the most murderous with premeditation and embedded intentions, this policy is in fact an integral part of the comprehensive Zionist / Israeli strategy that dates back to the beginning of the last century. Secret Zionist terrorist organizations implemented it before the creation of the 1948 Israeli occupation of Palestine and thereafter.

Zionist leaders, thinkers and theorists looked for and planned bloody destructive terrorist attacks against the Palestinian people, which resulted in a series of countless war crimes. Today, the policy continues to be an integral part of the Israeli State and the political and ideological terrorist heritage and literature.

4-1- Zionist Terrorist Gangs: Menachem Begin a top terrorist

Countless Israeli, British and other confidential documents that are not allowed dissemination, but appear only bit by bit and after decades reveal new information and reaffirm what has already been known about their activities. After more than sixty years, the British authorities released documents narrating the Zionist institutional methodological acts of terrorism carried out since the emergence of the Zionist movement, through crimes committed against the Palestinian people and others, before, during and after the 1948 war.

• A sixty-year old British document , revealed new information on terrorist operations that were carried out by Zionist gangs, including those committed against the forces of the British mandate in Palestine. The interesting thing is that the British media described the Zionists who carried out these operations against the British occupation of Palestine as “Resistance men”, leading a British expert to say,

“this document raises the question about terrorism, resistance and occupation”, pointing to what is happening in Palestine and the Middle East in general and to what happened in Northern Ireland in the past.

• According to the British newspaper, The Times,

“Through the document, the world can be assured of the realities of terrorism perpetrated by gangs and Zionist terrorist organizations in Palestine during the period of the British Mandate, lead by the gang of the”Irgun” that was headed by Menachem Begin, who, in 1977, became the prime minister of Israel,”^[77]

• And, according to the same newspaper,

“The document was a booklet containing leaflets warning the British from the terrorist Zionist gangs, to withdraw from Palestine or else they will face death and destruction,”

• It is mentioned that these publications

“Are not part of a propaganda campaign of “Al Qaeda” or the Mahdi Army in Iraq, but go back to the forties of the last century during the escalation of the Zionist terrorist operations in Palestine against civilians and British soldiers, and the publications of the “Irgun” addressing British soldiers who represent the occupying forces in Palestine by threatening them to get out of Palestine or face death”

 

• This document was found lately during an auction. The newspaper points out that

“The news regarding the publications became pale due to time and erosion factors after its discovery in the city of Haifa in 1947, but the message is still clear.”

These publications bring to mind the horror of the terrorist operations committed by Zionist terrorist organizations at the time. Though with a biased tone as, “The Times” called those committing them “The Jewish resistance men”.

Among those terrorist attacks, the newspaper mentions:

“Targeting the headquarters of the British occupation in Jerusalem, Hotel King Daoud, that killed 91 people and injured hundreds.”

This booklet was found among several documents and papers. A British Signal Corps found them, took them and burned some of them before the British withdrawal from Palestine in 1948. One of the soldiers, Raymond Smith, kept this booklet as a souvenir before burning the rest of the documents. An expert at one of the auctions was able to get them and later submitted them to “Moloch” lounge in northern England, Shropshire area.

• The historical expert, Richard Westwood Brookes said:

“This booklet is a rare discovery” and is considered from his point of view as an”action plan for terrorist attacks.”

“The booklet also raises an important question about who is the terrorist and who is the freedom fighter,”

“This controversy still exists in Palestine now, and used to exist before in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East in general.”

• In this context, the paper mentions that

“Ben Gurion used to call Begin as “Adolf Hitler”

4-2- Lehi planned to assassinate Churchill:

• British documents revealed that:

“The Zionist terrorist organization “Lehi” planned to assassinate the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the mid-forties of the last century”^[78]

• On 05/04/2011, Yediot Ahronot quoted the news mentioning that:

“The elements of Lehi denied the validity of these allegations, but they did not deny the attempts to assassinate British police officers, or put the British foreign minister at the time as a target for assassination.”

 

• A member of the Knesset and a former activist in “Lehi” Gaiola Cohen said that

She is not aware a of the plan to assassinate Churchill or other ministers in his government, as mentioned in the British documents

– She was quoted saying that

“She knows directly from Yitzhak Shamir himself that the British High Commissioner to the Middle East was one of the targets and he was assassinated, while the assassination of Lord Harold McMichael did not succeed.”

• Cohen pointed to the threats of “Lehi” to Britain, that she herself read as a broadcaster on the radio station of the terrorist organization in 1947,

At the time, she considered everyone who belonged to terrorist organizations: “the police, the army and the British government, everyone who continues to fight us, will be executed.”

• The newspaper “Yediot Aharonot” quoted Yair Stern, the founder of “Lehi” saying,

“He has no information or documentation regarding the intention to assassinate Churchill.”

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernest Bowen was a preferred target and he was described as” anti-Semitic”

– And that,

“Lehi”planned to assassinate British police officers and army officials, and what is being talked about is only a part of estimates.”

• He also said that

“Lehi” sent a bombed parcel to a British officer, but the parcel arrived to Britain and caused the death of his brother.

4-3- The first targeted assassination – Operation Zarzir

In the assassination documents, the analyst Ze’ev Schiff wrote in Haaretz under the title “the first targeted assassination” revealing the extensions and roots of the policy of assassinations:

“On 27/12/1947, a month after the United Nations General Assembly’s decision to establish two states, Jewish and Arab, and before the bloody collisions between the two populations transform into a war –war of the independence of Israel, “Haganah” Organization issued an operational order called ” Zarzir”. This plan can be seen as an operational plan to what would be called after ten years “targeted assassinations.”^[79]

He added that:

“In fact, the assassination of the Arabs was happening since the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but “Operation Zarzir ” was different. For the first time there was a planning for the campaign of “targeted assassinations “, with executive rules. Therefore, targeted assassinations are not as widely accepted, a result of the uprisings or suicide operations. ”

 

The implementation of “Operation Zarzir” begins with the following words:

“Hereby are issued the names to be eliminated without having to confirm the list of names again. The list of candidates to be eliminated was long and reflected the political strategic intentions of Haganah right before the war of independence.”

Schiff clarified that:

“In the original list of candidates for assassination, there were 23 Arab leaders and officers from across the country, the largest group was in Jerusalem, while the second group was from the city of Jaffa, among them Emile Ghouri, political leaders;, and military leaders, such as Hassan Salameh and Abdul-Qader al-Husseini, who were killed at the end during battles with Israel.”

He also explained that:

“The means of assassination were primitive. Firing rockets and activating helicopters and drones were not possible even in the dreams of implementers.”

Schiff concluded saying:

“In the mid-fifties Israel returned to “targeted assassinations” but on a small scale, the effort was fully directed against intelligence officers and Egyptian attachés who worked in the organization of Arab cells in order to kill Israelis. This case ended with the Sinai Campaign.”

4-4- Assassinations – From Qassam to Al Husseini to Al Mabhouh

The assassination of the fighter Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on December 20, 2010, provokes a debate about the background, implications and dimensions of the file of assassinations, and Zionist terror which was opened exclusively against the elites of Palestinian and Arab leaders and spanned nearly seventy years.

On 20.11.1935 Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam died^[80]… A few days later on 2.12.1935 Ben Gurion held an urgent meeting for the Zionist leadership in Mapai to discuss one issue: How did such a strong commander and fighter, who led the resistance create a real threat to their project, appear among the Arabs and Palestinians… He expressed his concern over the matter by saying,

“It is a very dangerous thing, it’s the first time since the outbreak of the conflict between us and the Arabs that an Arab leader, who carries an idea and a principle and who is ready to sacrifice himself for the population emerges, this evolution will have profound consequences, because the leaders that we faced until now did not have any respect from the population as they sold their people for their own interests.”^[81]

 

Since that time, the Zionist movement embraced the policy of liquidation of Arab Palestinian leaders who pose a threat to its project. Among these crimes were the political terrorist assassinations, which started at the time with the assassination of Count Bernadotte on 17.09.1948 because of his political proposals which called for the return of Palestinian refugees.^[82] The Stern terrorist movement led by Yitzhac Shamir, carried out the assassination operation. Sixty years later, Roy Jacob Aharoni, (79 years old), one of the members of the Jewish organization “Irgun” revealed that: “a deal was struck between Britain and the Irgun in 1941 for the assassination of Haj Amin al-Husseini.”^[83]

4-5- Mossad’s criminal record

The criminal Mossad record related to assassination, of the fighter al-Mabhouh in Dubai, is but an addition to a huge amount of documents, certificates and other measures which bear the Mossad responsible for assassinations, bombings and acts of sabotage that took place since the forties: in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, as well as in various other countries of the world.

Mossad’s criminal record is black, long and open ….!

• As it is known, a testimony that comes from their own mouths is worth a thousand other testimonies.A close source to the Mossad’s chief Meir Dagan, admitted the “responsibility of the chief for the operations that took place in Syria, Lebanon and Iran,” without giving further details, saying, “it is the achievements of Dagan”. A close source to the Israeli media, refusing to disclose name of the source, said that

“Dagan does not intend to resign before the end of his mandate and his resignation will be considered in recognition of his responsibility for the assassination in Dubai,”^[84]

He added that

“The achievements of Dagan in the operations against Hamas, Syria, Hezbollah and Iran cast a shadow over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he thinks of his resignation.” And, “There is a ladder of national priorities in this regard.”

• In addition to that, is the confession of an Israeli military intelligence officer on “the Israeli intelligence which committed the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri,”^[85] pointing at the same time that

“This operation has allowed America’s control over Lebanon for the benefit of the Israeli strategy in the region.”

Filka, the Israeli intelligence website quoted the officer Aman Reuven Ehrlich saying:

“I confess that the Israeli intelligence committed the operation to assassinate Hariri, who was killed in a car bomb explosion targeting his convoy in 2005, leading to his death and seven of his bodyguards, in addition to 10 other people.”^[86]

The website showed that:

“The confessions of the officer confirm the credibility of previous reports about the involvement of the Israeli Mossad in cooperation with the US administration in Hariri’s killing, which followed the assassination of other Lebanese officials and politicians.”

 

Furthermore, in the case of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafic Hariri, testimonies and confessions are numerous…!

The center “Axis of logic” in Massachusetts, USA, revealed a French official report on the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006 and its direct and indirect causes.The website of the center cites a summary published on the subject:

“The researcher and famous American journalist specialized in security affairs, Braian Harring, obtained a copy of the French official report, which is about 300 pages and includes photographs, maps and charts, when he recently passed in Paris on his way to Moscow on a business trip. According to the summary translated by the researcher, Harring himself, from the French original report, “the Israeli intelligence agency-Mossad is the one who assassinated the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.”^[87]

– A former officer in the US National Security Agency said

“The US intelligence agency the CIA, took advantage of a program for secret operations around the world, which was prepared after September 11, the purpose being to prosecute terrorists, for the liquidation of political figures whose objectives were contradictory to the economic and military interests of

the US administration and were not hostile to the United States.”^[88]

• Wayne Madsen, a former officer in the US National Security Agency said that:

“The Worldwide Attack Matrix program, allowed for the US intelligence to assassinate the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and the Vice President of Sudan, Dr. John Garang and the head of the Lebanese Forces security agency Elie Hobeika, as well as, other political figures in Africa and Asia, especially in Pakistan.”^[89]

 

• Thierry Meyssan, the French political writer, revealed political secrets in his new book “Towards a New War in Lebanon” in which he stressed that:

“The United States and Israel are responsible for the assassination of Al-Hariri.” ^[90]

– According to reports, investigations and strategic estimates of the number of senior politicians and Lebanese researchers, all the bombings and assassinations that have shaken Beirut since the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri and until today, were carried out by Mossad networks and Israeli intelligence and pour into Israel’s Middle East strategic outcome and objectives firstly and those of the United States secondly.

– The secretary of “Youth of George Hawi”, Rafi Madayan, raised a legal suit against the Mossad network accusing it of the assassination crime of his step father, former Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, after seeing “the low level of official interest in the issue of investigation into the assassination file.^[91]

– Assassination of Hezbollah official Ali Wesal with a double explosive device in 2003, and the assassination of Jihad Ahmad Jibril’s, the son of Ahmed Jibril.

4-6- In the targeting circle

After Mossad’s assassination of the fighter Mabhouh, and despite the media fuss and the legal and ethical dimensions of this crime, the leaders of the Israeli-State insisted on continuing the assassination approach openly, frankly and carelessly with disregard to Palestinian, Arab and international reactions.

4-6-1- Assassination Threats on Ismail Haniyeh

Ismail Haniyeh became the most wanted man in the Zionist circles, whose assassination was urgent, as after

“Dan Halutz, the former Israeli chief of staff of the Israeli Defense praised the assassination of the fighter Mahmoud al-Mabhouh,”

The head of the parliamentary committee in the Knesset, Yariv Levin, invited to:

“Liquidate the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, similarly to Mabhouh”^[92]

And added that

“assassinations are harmful to their performance and deter them, and each state and every country has something to lose even Iran and Ahmadinejad and everyone has to know that his life is in danger.”

What is certain is that nothing is new in the Zionist assassination intentions.Israel had asked at the time the approval of former US President George W. Bush for the assassination of Haniyeh, “to which he showed enthusiasm .”^[93]

According to sources at the highest level of the Israeli security leadership:

“The decision was made to assassinate the Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh – in Gaza – at the earliest, and that the Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, is the one that led the decision.”^[94]

Avi Dichter, former head of “Shin Bet” crowned the scene of the occupation and assassinations against the Palestinian people, to reveal the premeditated intentions against the leaders and cadres of the Palestinian people, by declaring explicitly:

“Haniyeh is not immune to assassination being the head of the Palestinian government.”^[95]

4-6-2 Assassination Threats on Khaled Mashal

The occupying state did not miss any occasion or opportunity to threaten, intimidate and target Palestinian leaders, Islamists, fighters, nationalists, communists, or civilians (children and women included). In this context, the threats of assassinations extend to other leaders, such as Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, and others. A Zionist military spokesman said, in an interview with Al-Jazeera on the morning of Friday 09/06/2006, regarding the massacre at the beach and the assassination of the fighter Abu Samhadana that “Israel is waging an open war against terrorists, (meaning Palestinians)and that this war will continue, “^[96]

 

• Avi Dichter

Close to a year after the pace of assassinations slowed down, the Israeli formal Internal Security Minister, Avi Dichter, and the former head of “Shin Bet” announced via the Hebrew media that:

“The head of the political bureau of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, is not immune to any liquidation which could target him at the first opportunity”.^[97]

And added,

“The elimination of Mashal is a legal target, and I am convinced that at the first opportunity we will get rid of him, despite the difficulty of the task,”

He continued saying:

“The head of the political bureau of Hamas is not immune to assassinations, and, like Mohammed Deif, of the military wing of Hamas, Israel was able to reach them before and will be able to reach them again.”

The Deputy Israeli Defense Minister, Ephraim Sneh, also stressed that:

“None of the Hamas leaders would be safe.”^[98]

Dichter, who is one of the most prominent and the most dangerous Israeli security chief, in charge of carrying out the liquidation of the Palestinian leadership, declared once again the intention for the assassination of Mashal, saying:

“Israel will liquidate the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Khaled Mashal” at the first opportunity”^[99]

And added:

“If we do this and we stop the arrest and imprisonment of members of Hamas, while the Palestinian Authority is doing nothing, in a short time the movement will build its structure and seize power as it did in the Gaza Strip.”

However, he noted that:

“Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June is no longer a terrorist organization, but an army of terrorists, comprising 15,000 men, and organized along the lines of Hezbollah in Lebanon with Iran standing by it and using it as a proxy,”

He concluded saying:

“We want a culture of action from now on, it is out of the question for us to stand and watch.”

 

• Amnon Lipkin-Shahak

The officer Amnon Lipkin-Shahak also crowned the pages of the Israeli assassination literature at the beginning of 2010, like he was paving the way for the assassination of Al-Mabhouh, where he asked the army

“to strike the leaders of the Palestinian factions and not to wait for the continued escalation,”^[100]

He also said on the official Hebrew radio,

“Israel cannot wait for the policy of escalation by the Palestinian factions and the strikes must be directed to liquidate the leaders and weapon stores and not wait for the implementation of a major operation,”

And added,

“We should target the influential leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian organizations in order not to get to the big confrontation and enter the Gaza Strip.”

 

– Benjamin Netanyahu

In the wake of the Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip in 2011, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to manage this growing military escalation through the implementing the assassination of specific leaders of the resistance factions instead of waging a ground war. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that:

“Netanyahu told the heads of the security agencies, before traveling to the Russian capital, Moscow, that he allows from now on, assassination operations specific to the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, without getting involved in an open warfare in the Gaza Strip.”^[101]

 

• Shaul Mofaz

The former Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, asked from his end to:

“Renew intensive assassinations against Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, because the two movements crossed the red line.”^[102]

Alluding to that:

“He personally ordered the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas leader, when he was the former minister of defense”

And as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, and after the assassination of Osama bin Laden by the United States, Mofaz, insisted on targeting the leaders of the Palestinian organizations saying,

“The elimination of bin Laden shows that the United States has adopted the strategy of the State of Israel which is based on targeting the leaders of organizations, the strategy that was adopted after the killing of Israeli athletes during the Olympic Games, in Munich in 1972”

Adding in the context of a radio interview that:

“This strategy has proven its efficacy and if the attempts to carry out attacks from the Gaza Strip continue, Hamas leaders should know that they are a target for liquidation and that this matter enjoys absolute legitimacy.”

 

What was presented in the above pages describes the Israeli terrorist scene with clear lines and objectives and an official Israeli assassination policy, legalized by the highest Israeli political, judicial and security levels. A policy that assassinates Palestinians and others in a systematic, premeditated, predetermined, and programmed way and without trial, or hearings or defense witnesses. A policy that is implemented with impunity and with total disregard to humanitarian ethics and international saws. Such a policy and it’s consequent actions are means usually used by purging countries. Yet they are a significant component of the colonialist strategy and legal system of the State of Israel which claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East. However the fact that this policy is used and implemented by Israel against Palestinians and others, reveals to some extent, the true face and nature of Israel as an occupying colonialist power and an aspect of the reality of the people living under occupation and those perceived as a threat.

1. Sharon, “Al-Dustor” Jordanian newspaper 18,10,2001.

[2]. Ibid.

[3]. Israeli newspaper, “Ma’ariv”, “Ha’aretz”18,10,2001.

[4]. “Ha’aretz” 18,10,2001.

[5]. “Yadeot Ahronot” 21,10,2001.

[6]. See Palestinian reactions, from the Palestinian newspapers Al-Ayyam and Al Hayat on 18-19-20/10/2001.

[7]. These legal texts quoting a report by the Palestinian organization Al-Haq issued in December 2001, as well as a report by the Palestinian media center on Israeli policy of assassinations.

[8]. From the Center’s website on 3/5/2001.

[9]. From the texts and documents of the Economic and Social Council specialized in guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty under 1984/50 dated 25 May 1984, as well as the decision of the Economic and Social Council dated 24/05/1984.

[10]. See the full text of the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949.

[11]. Back to the full text of the Geneva Protocol I following the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

[12]. “Al-Quds” newspaper, Jerusalem. March 11,2000.

[13]. “Al-Ayyam” Palestinian newspaper, January 25,2001; French News Agency, January 24,2001.

[14]. “Al-Quds” newspaper, Jerusalem, January 4,2001.

[15]. “Ma’ariv” Israeli newspaper, May 1,2001.

[16]. “Al-Ayyam” Palestinian newspaper, July 3,2001.

[17]. “Al-Ra’i” Jordanian newspaper July 4,2001.

[18]. “Ma’ariv” August 2,2001.

[19]. “Al-Quds” August 4,2001.

[20]. “Al-Ra’i” August 4,2001.

[21]. “Al-Dustor” Jordanian newspaper August 6,2001.

[22]. “Ha’aretz” Israeli newspaper, August 20,2001.

[23]. As shown in the Israeli public opinion poll published by “Yadeot Ahronot” Israeli newspaper on August 29,2001.

[24]. “Ha’aretz”, December 24,2001.

[25]. “Yadeot Ahronot” February 9,2001.

[26]. “Koll Hazaman” Israeli newspaper, December 26,2001.

[27]. Dr. Salih Abdul- Jawwad, Israeli Forces, al-Quds, December 2,2000.

[28]. Taken from a special report telecast by Israeli Television, Channel I on Friday evening, January 5,2001.

[29]. Ibid.

[30]. “Pmehna” Israeli Magazine. April 16,1992.

[31]. Ibid.

[32]. “Ha’aretz” September 13, 1989.

[33]. “Al-Hamishmar” Israeli newspaper August 30,1989.

[34]. “Ha’aretz” November 25,1990.

[35]. “Ha’aretz” July 24,1989.

[36]. Faisal al-Husseini, “Ha’aretz” March 27,1992.

[37]. “Ha’aretz”, June 30,1993.

[38]. “Ha’aretz”, March 27,1992.

[39]. Dr.Salih Abdul-Jawwad, op.cit.

[40]. “Ma’ariv” June 15, 1999 .

[41]. “Ha’aretz”, September 29,1998.

[42]. “Ma’ariv”, September 30,1999.

[43].”Ma’ariv”, September 14,2000.

[44]. “A-l-Quds” October 15,2000.

[45]. “Ha’aretz” October 25,2000.

[46]. “Ma’ariv” December 3,1998.

[47]. “Yadeot Ahranot”, October 15,1999.

[48]. Israeli Television, Channel I, November 20,2000.

[49]. Ibid.

[50]. Israeli Television, Channel I, October 7(evening),2000.

[51]. “Al-Quds”, October 14,2000.

[52]. “Ma’ariv” October 15,2000.

[53]. “Al-Ra’i”, January 30,2000 .

[54]. “Al-Dustour”, November 28,2000.

[55]. “Al-Quds”, January 4,2001.

[56]. “Al-Ayyam”, July 3,2001.

[57]. “Al-Quds”, August 4,2001.

[58]. “Al-Ayyam”, November 28,2000.

[59]. “Al-Quds”, October 6,2000.

[60]. “Yadeot Ahronot”, October 16,2000.

[61]. “Ha’aretz”, December 17,2000.

[62]. “Ha’aretz”, December 24,2000.

[63]. “Ma’ariv” February 16,2001.

[64]. “Al-Ra’i” April 29,2001.

[65]. “Ma’ariv” Supplement, July 27,2001.

[66]. Ibid.

[67]. “Al-Quds”, February 20,2001.

[68]. “Koll Hazaman”, Israeli newspaper, December 26,2000.

[69]. “Ha’aretz”, December 24,2000.

[70]. “Al-Quds”, May 1,2001.

[71]. The report of the Palestinian Media Center / by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights during the month of May 2004.

[72]. Sama Monday 4/10/2010.

[73]. Agencies 02/01/2011 – Al jazeera – Monday 21/7/2008.

[74]. Ibid.

[75]. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al Quds Al Maqdissiya 10/05/2010.

[76]. Used references:

1- Yediot / Agencies / 16/11/2009

2- Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) 12/01/2010

3- Samir Kodeih – Gaza- Donia Al-Watan 19/01/2004

4- German magazine “Der Spiegel” on Sunday 28/02/2010

5- Archives from the Palestinian organization of research and studies

6- Archives from Dar Galilee Publishing house

[77]. Gulf. Sunday 20/07/2008, Times British Newspaper.

[78]. Yediot Ahronot, 05/04/2011.

[79]. Haaretz 5/6/2006.

[80]. Palestinian archive files, Institute for Palestinian Studies, Beirut.

[81]. Ben Gurion, the Zionist leadership meeting in Mapai on 2/12/1935.

[82]. Al Quds newspaper 11/3/2000.

[83]. Ibid.

[84]. Hebrew newspapers 18/2/2010.

[85]. Maarev, Hebrew Yediot, 7/6/2008.

[86]. Ibid.

[87]. Report from the “Axis of Logic” center, Massachusetts, USA, agencies, 12/6/2008.

[88]. Ibid.

[89]. Worldwide Attach Matrix Program, Issue 289, Saturday 6/09/2006.

[90]. Thierry Meyssan French political writer in the book “The destruction of Lebanon”, the Gulf 16/06/2007.

[91]. Agencies, Beirut, 20/10/2007.

[92]. Harretz, Wednesday 24/2/2010.

[93]. Agencies, 28/12/2007.

[94]. Ibid.

[95]. Avi Dichter, head of Shin Bet, Maarev.

[96]. Al Jazeera, Friday morning 9/6/2006.

[97]. Avi Dichter, Israel’s Army Radio the morning of Monday, 21/05/2007.

[98]. Maarev, 22/5/2007.

[99]. Avi Dichter, Le Monde, French newspaper 9/10/2007.

[100]. Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, formal Hebrew radio, Monday 11/01/2010.

[101]. Netanyahu, Yediot Ahronot, Tuesday, 29/03/ 2011.

[102]. General Shaul Mofaz, Maarev, Friday 25/3/2011.