Military analysts cited in the media believed that the publication of the list was intended to add legitimacy to Israel's "self-defense" policy, a euphemism for the "targeted killing" of alleged terrorists and their handlers. By publicizing the list, Israel was attempting to focus attention on the Palestinian Authority's failure to act against suspected terrorists. It could also have the effect of serving as a last warning to the wanted men, driving them underground and disrupting plans for additional terrorist attacks.

Yesterday afternoon two Apache helicopters fired missiles

"We are taking defensive counter-terrorist measures." - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

at a car driven by Amer Hassan Al-Madiri, 26, in Tulkarm. The IDF later confirmed the strike against Al-Madiri, whom the army claimed was a key Hamas activist responsible for recruiting and arming suicide bombers and participating in shooting attacks in Samaria.

Government sources said that Al-Madiri's car was carrying explosives destined for two suicide bombers. This morning, security forces apprehended a Palestinian allegedly on his way to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio that the man was one of the two who were to receive explosives from Al-Madiri.

"The IDF will continue to carry out operations to prevent terrorist attacks in order to defend Israeli citizens and soldiers," the IDF Spokesman said yesterday.

Marwan Barghouti unharmed as IDF strikes Ramallah convoy
West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was unharmed when rockets fired by Israeli forces struck a convoy of cars in Ramallah on Saturday. "This is a failed assassination attempt and this is a cowardly act by [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, and a crime," Barghouti said. "The criminal occupiers will pay for this new crime," he added.

"Marwan Barghouti was not the target," insisted Ben-Eliezer. Senior IDF officials claimed that Barghouti was not in the convoy at the time of the attack as the Palestinians claimed.

Israeli military sources said the target of Saturday's action was Muhind Dirya (Abu Halaweh), a senior Force 17 member who was personally involved in planning and directing numerous shooting attacks. According to the sources, Halaweh was responsible for the deaths of eight Israelis, including Ze'ev and Talia Kahane, and the June 6 murder of Greek Orthodox monk Georgios Tsibouktsakis on the Maaleh Adumim road.

Halaweh suffered only minor injuries in the attack. Former commander of the IDF's Hebron Brigade, Col. (Res.) Yigal Sharon said the attack "was an opportunity to pass on a warning message to Barghouti."

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the attack was a "declaration of an all-out war by Sharon and we have received his message loud and clear."

According to a report in Maariv yesterday, Ministry of Defense officials and IDF officers have expressed "deep satisfaction" in the effect Israel's "targeted killings" are having on the Palestinians. At a military briefing, an official said the unceasing IDF actions against terrorists had eliminated many experts in bomb making and had sent the rest underground making it harder for them to carry out attacks.

Sharon defends "targeted killings"
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended Israel's policy of targeting terrorists and terror planners saying that Israel was exercising its right of self-defense. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Sharon said targeted killings were a legitimate act of self-defense in the face of terrorism that the Palestinian leadership could stop at any time.

"On the one hand, we have murders, killers, suicide bombers. On the other hand, we ourselves, we are taking defensive counter-terrorist measures. That's what we are doing," Sharon said.

Sharon criticized Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for taking no action against suspected terrorists. "I sent him a list of names of terrorists, those that were preparing for acts of murder and terror and violence, those that are preparing suicide bombers, those that are preparing car bombs," Sharon said. "I asked him to arrest them. No steps have been taken by him, and I made it very clear that we have to defend our citizens," he added.

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