Palestinians Reject Israeli Most-Wanted List

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The Palestinian Authority refused on Monday to arrest any of the seven men on an Israeli most-wanted list that could mark them for death under a widely condemned hunt-and-kill policy.Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Israel must first take action against its own activists before the Authority Could consider demands to detain the seven Palestinians.
Releasing its list on Sunday, the Israeli War Ministry alledged the seven men, from several Palestinian factions, ''continue to carry out attacks'' despite Israeli appeals to the Palestinian Authority to arrest them and dozens of other activists.
In the West Bank on Sunday, suspected Palestinian Resistnce men shot dead a settler woman and wounded three other passengers in a car that came under attack in the West Bank.
The day of violence included a Palestinian shooting attack that wounded 10 people near Israel's War Ministry.
In yet more bloodletting in a 10-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence, an Israeli helicopter missile strike killed a Muslim activist in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, an attack branded an assassination by Palestinians. (Read photo caption below)
Later on Sunday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who the occupation army claimed was planting a bomb in the West Bank.
Israeli Channel Two television's military affairs reporter hinted that the most-wanted register was effectively a hit list, saying the seven ``could get hurt in future (Israeli) attempts to foil so-called terrorist attacks.''
Reading between the lines, an Israel Radio commentator said: ``If the Palestinian Authority does not round them up, it's clear what their fate will be -- although it doesn't say so in the statement.''
PALESTINIANS POINT TO ISRAELI ``DEATH SQUADS''
Palestinian officials have accused Israel of assassinating some 60 activists since an uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip erupted in September after peace talks stalled.The United States, Israel's guardian ally, and other countries have condemned the policy described by Israeli leaders as active self-defense.
Abed Rabbo said that besides the arrest of the settlers, a move Israel has rejected, ``death squads'' under the direction of Israeli security and military chiefs should also be detained.
Israeli War Minister Ben-Eliezer said the Hamas activist killed in Sunday's missile attack, Amer Hudeiri, was to have given an explosives belt to a would-be Palestinian bomber arrested by Israeli forces on Monday in the West Bank.
Tens of thousands of mourners, chanting for revenge, marched on Monday in a joint funeral procession in Tulkarm for Hudeiri and the other Palestinian killed in the West Bank on Sunday.
At least 513 Palestinians, 131 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the start of the uprising.
The seven men on the most-wanted list include three members of the militant Islamic Jihad group, one Hamas man, an activist from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two men from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat 's Fatah faction.
Under their names, the Defense Ministry statement listed anti-Israeli attacks in which they allegedly took part. Palestinian sources said none of the men, aged between 22 and 33, was a senior leader.
Citing Israel's ``assassination policy,'' Amin al-Hindi, Palestinian intelligence chief for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, told Reuters on Sunday that the Palestinians had suspended weekly U.S.-hosted security talks with Israel two weeks ago.
Members of the Muslim Resistance group Hamas carry the remains of activist Amer Hodeiri during the funeral for Hodeiri and Palestinian policeman Mahdi Mizyed in the West Bank town of Tulkarem on August 6, 2001. Hodeiri was murdered after a helicopter missile strike on his car according to witnesses, and Mahdi Mizyed was shot by Israeli occupation troops while he was allegedly laying a bomb near the internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Einav in the West Bank. (Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters)

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