- The Israeli military establishment operates a shoot-to-kill
policy against Palestinian guerrillas, an army intelligence general said
yesterday.
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- The admission embarrassed the armed forces, and officials
were quick to distance themselves from the radio statement made by the
unnamed general. The officer said the forces were hunting down and killing
"known terrorists. The preferred method in carrying out the extra-judicial
killings, he said, was through sniping.
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- In the past month more than a dozen Palestinians have
been killed by Israeli troops and policemen employing sophisticated techniques.
These have included a booby-trapped mobile telephone and a bomb planted
in the headrest of a car driven by a member of an Islamic guerrilla group.
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- At least another four civilians were also killed in what
the Israeli army calls "pro-active operations.
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- Two of them, middle-aged women, were blown up by a rocket
fired from a helicopter in Bethlehem. Overall, about 340 Palestinians,
many of them children, have died since the outbreak of violence three months
ago.
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- Israel has made no secret of the assaults and has been
quick to publicise operations once they have been carried out. The attacks
have also sown fear among armed Palestinian activists, who have complained
to Yassir Arafat,s Palestinian Authority that they need protection, sources
in the governing body said.
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- Military officials refused to discuss the general,s statement
yesterday. Officials, however, confirmed Israel,s policy of killing its
most dangerous enemies. One military spokesman said: "We have a policy
of attacking those who have attacked our military or our civilians. There
is no secret about that. We have been doing it for years. We don,t wait
for them to attack us again.
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- The general,s disclosure came hours before the death
of two Palestinians in Gaza yesterday. Rashid Barhoun, 26, a member of
Hamas, was shot in the back while fleeing from a gunbattle with Israeli
troops at the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Ahed Mreish, 18, was killed near
Karni, where there was no fighting. An Israeli military spokesman denied
any involvement in his death.
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- An Israeli was shot dead yesterday by a Palestinian north
of Jerusalem in the West Bank. The victim, whose identity was not given,
died when the Palestinian opened fire from a vehicle that passed him on
a busy road linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. With killings continuing unabated
in the occupied territories, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators were upbeat
yesterday after three days of talks in Washington.
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- "We are close to achieving recognition of Palestinian
sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem, including the holy sites, Yassir
Abed Rabbo, chief Palestinian envoy in the talks at Bolling Air Force Base
near Washington, said.
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- Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Israeli Foreign Minister, described
the talks as productive and said that there could be an agreement if they
continued in the same positive spirit.
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- President Clinton has set a deadline of January 10, ten
days before he leaves office, for both sides to strike a deal that could
lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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- Israel,s left-wing Meretz party voted not to back Shimon
Peres,s candidacy for Prime Minister in the February 6 election, destroying
his chances. Mr Peres, 77, architect of Israel,s seven-year-old peace drive
with the Palestinians, said he would not oppose the decision: "That
is the result and that is that. I will continue to work towards peace.
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