Israeli troops shot dead a top Hamas official in the West Bank city of Hebron as drafters of the peace "road map" prepared to meet on Sunday to discuss ways of salvaging peace efforts imperiled by two weeks of violence. "This is another proof that the Israelis are...continuing the assassinations," said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Witnesses said soldiers shot Hamas leader Abdullah Kawasme on Saturday as he got out of his car near a large mosque known as a Hamas stronghold in Hebron. Palestinians labeled the killing an "assassination," but Israeli security sources said troops attempted to arrest Kawasme.
Israeli Yediot Aharonot said the borderguards lying in ambush shot Qawasmeh as he left Hebron's Al Ansar mosque where he had gone to pray. But the daily Maariv said he was shot dead when he refused to surrender after being surrounded in a house in Hebron.
The Palestinian Authority has long demanded Israel end its track-and-kill operations, which it says block attempts to achieve a truce and begin implementing the road map.
**Sharon Says Hamas Chief's Elimination "Successful Operation"***
Ariel Sharon has hailed the killing of a top Hamas chief in Hebron as "a successful operation", and said targetted attacks on such militants would continue if the Palestinians failed to act against them.
"I would like first to thank the security forces for last night's (Saturday) successful and very important operation in Hebron.
This was a vital action designed to provide security for Israel's citizens," Sharon was quoted as saying at a cabinet meeting Sunday, in an official statement sent to AFP.
The statement was the first acknowledgement by Israel that its forces had killed Abdullah Qawasmeh.
The militant, whose group has carried out the vast majority of suicide bombings in Israel, tried to flee and was shot in the ensuing melee, the sources said.
Israeli press reports called Qawasmeh the man "most wanted" by Israel and the Jewish state's "public enemy number one," but reports differed on how he was killed.
**PHOTO CAPTION***
Abdullah Kawasme, from the West Bank town of Hebron is seen in this undated handout photo Sunday June 22, 2003. (AP Photo/HO)