Israel releases list of wanted Palestinians

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), AUG 6. Israel yesterday released a list of seven wanted Palestinians in a move interpreted as both a public relations exercise and a warning. The list was released after the Israel military assassinated yet another Hamas militant by blasting his car with missiles. While Israel continues in its rejection of world-wide condemnation of its assassination policy, the publication of the list appears intended to show precisely the kind of Palestinian activists they are targeting.

All seven on the list are shown as having actually participated in the making of bombs, or in having prepared suicide bombers and transporting them to the site on which they made their attacks, or in planting road-side bombs or participating in road-side ambushes or drive-by shootings. In publicising the list through a press release, Israel's Defence Ministry merely said these wanted men were still at large though Israel had made repeated requests to the Palestinian Authority for their arrest. Since Israel has claimed that those they have assassinated, or targeted for killing, are those who had not so been arrested despite repeated requests, it appears amply clear that these seven are on the list of people that Israel would like to eliminate. As such it is a warning to the militants themselves.

It is also a warning to the Palestinian Authority that if they do not take these militants into custody they will be killed. At least one person on the published list is believed to be already in the custody of the Palestinian security services. The publication of the list also appears to be a clarification, to the Palestinians and the world outside the territories, as to the kind of Palestinian activists Israel believes it is justified in killing. Following the assassination of two men in Nablus last week, who were till then believed to be solely connected to the political arm of the Islamic movement, it was thought that Israel was drawing up targets higher on the hierarchies of the various Palestinian groups. It was thought that Israel might not hesitate to kill strategists or even Palestinian political leaders supporting the use of violence against Israel.

With the publication of the list, Israel appears to have clarified that they will only kill those directly involved in terrorist operations.

The whole thing is also, of course, a public relations exercise. By saying that these seven have been put on the list only because the Palestinian Authority has not bothered to take them into custody Israel seeks to transfer blame to the Authority. Israel reportedly wants the Palestinian Authority to take into custody almost a hundred militants. It is not clear whether those beyond the named seven are being categorised for different treatment.

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Section  : International
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