ISRAEL: Israel has resumed an assassination policy against Islamic Jihad militants, a sign of how far a truce with the Palestinians has deteriorated.
An Israeli aircraft fired missiles at four Islamic Jihad men in the Gaza village of Beit Lahiya yesterday as they launched rockets into Israel. No one was hurt but a rocket was destroyed.
A government official said earlier Israel could stage air strikes in Gaza, even at the risk of Palestinian civilian casualties, to ensure its Gaza withdrawal did not come under fire.
Israel stopped "targeted killings" of militants in February as part of a new truce deal.
But resurgent violence has raised the spectre of disruption to Israel's planned August withdrawal from Gaza and dimmed hopes for "road-map" peace talks afterwards.
Word that the assassination policy had been dusted off came with Israeli confirmation of a failed missile strike on Tuesday, while Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas were holding tense talks in Jerusalem.
"An opportunity presented itself. Any means to neutralise the organisation are relevant and possible," public security minister Gideon Ezra said.
Islamic Jihad has resumed mortar bomb and rocket salvoes against Jewish settlements in Gaza, in retaliation for continued Israeli raids to capture militants.
"The attempt yesterday to kill an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza signalled the resumption of the targeted killing policy," an Israeli security source said.
Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, warned of "terrible consequences" if Israel carried out assassinations. "The calm would thereby end."
Later, a senior adviser to Mr Sharon said Israel could stage air strikes in Gaza if militants tried to attack departing settlers to try to show they were chasing them out of occupied territory.
Withdrawing from Gaza under fire would be political poison for Mr Sharon, strengthening right-wing opponents who have said the pull-out would be perceived by the Palestinians and Arab world as a sign of weakness after four years of bloodshed.
"Israel will act in a very resolute manner to prevent terror attacks . . . while the disengagement is being implemented," said Eival Giladi, head of the government team co-ordinating the plan. "If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage."
Foreign minister Silvan Shalom said Israel could respond to any Palestinian attacks from Gaza even after the pull-out.
At their summit, Mr Sharon complained to Mr Abbas that the moderate Palestinian leader was doing little to rein in militants. But the level of violence is much lower than during the Palestinian revolt launched in the occupied West Bank and Gaza in 2000. They agreed to co-operate for as smooth as possible an evacuation of 8,500 settlers from Gaza and a few hundred among 230,000 in the West Bank. - (Reuters)