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Assassination opens 'a new era' of confrontation

Sharon says assassination brings 'a new era - things can never be the same'
 
Israel's far-right Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi has been assassinated. He was hit three times at close range in the Hyatt Hotel in east Jerusalem and was rushed to the Hadassa Hospital where he was found to be suffering from wounds to the head and throat. He arrived at the hospital without a heartbeat and doctors tried hard to revive him, said hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy. However, Rehavam Zeevi died at 1000 (0800 GMT), some three hours after the shooting, Dr. Shmuel Shapira, the deputy director of the hospital in Jerusalem confirmed later.

An extremist group has already claimed responsibility for the shooting of Mr Zeevi. A spokesman for the PFLP, the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in statements to the Al-Manar TV in Lebanon said the shooting was a revenge attack for Israel's killing of the PFLP leader, Abu Ali Mustafa Zibri, who had been assassinated by an Israeli rocket attack in August. "The Israelis killed one prominent leader and Mr Zeevi is one of those who have very, very right-wing points of view on discrimination - he wants to deport Palestinians and he is with the most severe terrorism against the Palestinians," the spokesman said.
 
He also warned that that the matter will not end with the death of Mr Zeevi, saying that Israelis would continue to pay the price of Palestinian anger unless they ensured a real and stable peace.  Israel had claimed that it's forces had killed Zibri because he had organised a series of car bombings carried out by the PFLP.

Mr Zeevi was one of the most controversial politicians in Israel. He had repeatedly called for Arabs to be transferred out of the state and is notorious for using the line: "Let the Arabs go back to Mecca".  Mr Zeevi was the head of the right-wing National Union Party, formerly the Moledet Party, and was among seven ultra-nationalists who pulled out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government on Monday in protest at Israel's military pull-out from Hebron. His resignation had been due to take effect at 1300 (1100 GMT) on Wednesday.

Israel's response is likely to be severe

Mr Sharon called an emergency meeting of his top intelligence, security, military and cabinet officials to discuss the assassination. A full cabinet meeting has been called to discuss Israel's likely response, but Mr Sharon has already stated that relations between Israel and the Palestinians had entered 'a new era and that things can never be the same again.'
This is the first assassination of a senior Government Minister by Palestinian terrorists since the formation of Israel in 1948.
 
Israel's response is likely to be severe, the re-imposition of the blockade on the Gaza and West Bank, air strikes on a limited range of targets and a long-planned Israeli operation may now be brought forward. Sources close to the Israeli military suggest that the call up of reserve forces and mobilization of additional Israeli Armoured forces are consistent with an assault similar to the 1978 "Operation Litani" or the June 1982 "Peace for the Galilee" operations, concentrating this time on the Beka'a valley in eastern Lebanon and the area around the Shebaa Farms border region of Israel, Syria and Lebanon.
 
There are also intelligence reports from normally reliable sources that the Lebanese Army is actively moving south additional military units and that the Syrian military forces in and around known Hezbollah training centers have been heavily reinforced and are now on a heightened state of alert. The Iranian backed Hezbollah terrorist movement presents a serious military threat to Israel and is a leading member of the anti-Western international terrorist movement. As early as the 2nd September, just nine days before the terrorist outrage in the United States, AFI Research was publicly warning that Hezbollah and its Islamic extremist allies were planning to carry the Middle East conflict to Israels Western allies in Europe and beyond.
 
The assassination of Mr Zeevi is a huge test for the Western coalition against terrorism and its effects could indeed fatally undermine its effectiveness. Israel will be looking hard for Mr Bush and Mr Blair to be equally strong in their determination to destroy Palestinian and Iranian-backed terrorists and their bases in the Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
 
Richard M. Bennett

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